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Holocene Climate Variability on Centennial-to-Millennial Time Scales: 2. Internal and Forced Oscillations as Possible Causes

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Climate Development and History of the North Atlantic Realm

Abstract

The climate of Western and Northern Europe is closely linked to the meridional circulation of the Atlantic Ocean, and climate variability on centennial-to-millennial time scales in this realm may well be caused by fluctuations in the associated heat transport. The sensitivity of the meridional circulation is determined by a number of feedbacks in the climate system, which can also interact to sustain internal oscillations. Another source of climate variability is (quasi-) periodic external forcing of the climate system, which gives rise to forced oscillations. A climate model is used to generate internal oscillations of one sort (i.e. deep-decoupling oscillations) with periods ranging approximately from 1600–2000 years. During all phases of these oscillations, there is active deep water formation and export from the North Atlantic to the Southern Ocean, and the maximum of the meridional overturning does never drop below 6 x 106 m3 s-1.

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Author notes

  1. André Paul

    Present address: Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Postfach 33 04 40, D-28334, Bremen, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, 9500 Gilman Drive, CA, 92093-0244, USA

    André Paul

  2. Institute for Geosciences, University of Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, D-24118, Kiel, Germany

    Michael Schulz

Authors
  1. André Paul
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  2. Michael Schulz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Klagenfurter Straße 2, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Gerold Wefer

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Geological Research Division, University of California, 92093-0215, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Wolfgang H. Berger

  3. Niedersächsisches Institut für historische Küstenforschung, Viktoriastraße 26/28, 26483, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Karl-Ernst Behre

  4. University of Bergen, Department of Geology, Allégaten 41, 5007, Bergen, Norway

    Eystein Jansen

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Paul, A., Schulz, M. (2002). Holocene Climate Variability on Centennial-to-Millennial Time Scales: 2. Internal and Forced Oscillations as Possible Causes. In: Wefer, G., Berger, W.H., Behre, KE., Jansen, E. (eds) Climate Development and History of the North Atlantic Realm. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04965-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04965-5_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07744-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-04965-5

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