Post by 1dave on Jun 17, 2018 16:34:15 GMT -5
QUESTION: What changes did these events cause on land?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_event
Chronology of climatic events of importance for the Last Glacial Period (~last 120,000 years) as recorded in polar ice cores, and approximate relative position of Heinrich events, initially recorded in marine sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean. Light violet line: δ18O from the NGRIP ice core (Greenland), permil (NGRIP members, 2004). Orange dots: temperature reconstruction for the NGRIP drilling site (Kindler et al., 2014). Dark violet line: δ18O from the EDML ice core (Antarctica), permil (EPICA community members, 2006). Grey areas: major Heinrich events of mostly Laurentide origine (H1, H2, H4, H5). Grey hatch: major Heinrich events of mostly European origine (H3, H6). Light grey hatch and numbers C-14 to C-25: minor IRD layers registered in North Atlantic marine sediment cores (Chapman et al., 1999). HS-1 to HS-10: Heinrich Stadial (HS, Heinrich, 1988; Rasmussen et al., 2003; Rashid et al., 2003). GS-2 to GS-24: Greenland Stadial (GS, Rasmussen et al., 2014). AIM-1 to AIM-24: Antarctic Isotope Maximum (AIM, EPICA community members, 2006). Antarctica and Greenland ice core records are shown on their common timescale AICC2012 (Bazin et al., 2013; Veres et al., 2013).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_event
A Heinrich event is a natural phenomenon in which large armadas of icebergs break off from glaciers and traverse the North Atlantic. First described by marine geologist Hartmut Heinrich (Heinrich, H., 1988), they occurred during five of the last seven glacial periods or "ice ages" over the past 640,000 years (Hodell, et al., 2008). Heinrich events are particularly well documented for the last glacial period but notably absent from the penultimate glaciation (Obrochta et al., 2014). The icebergs contained rock mass, which has been eroded by the glaciers, and as they melted, this matter was dropped onto the sea floor as ice rafted debris (abbreviated to "IRD").
The icebergs' melting caused extensive amounts of fresh water to be added to the North Atlantic. Such inputs of cold and fresh water may well have altered the density-driven, thermohaline circulation patterns of the ocean, and often coincide with indications of global climate fluctuations.
Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the cause of Heinrich events, most of which imply instability of the massive Laurentide ice sheet, a continental glacier covering North America during the last glacial period. Other northern hemisphere ice sheets were potentially involved as well (Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland). However, the initial cause of this instability is still debated.
The icebergs' melting caused extensive amounts of fresh water to be added to the North Atlantic. Such inputs of cold and fresh water may well have altered the density-driven, thermohaline circulation patterns of the ocean, and often coincide with indications of global climate fluctuations.
Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the cause of Heinrich events, most of which imply instability of the massive Laurentide ice sheet, a continental glacier covering North America during the last glacial period. Other northern hemisphere ice sheets were potentially involved as well (Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland). However, the initial cause of this instability is still debated.
Chronology of climatic events of importance for the Last Glacial Period (~last 120,000 years) as recorded in polar ice cores, and approximate relative position of Heinrich events, initially recorded in marine sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean. Light violet line: δ18O from the NGRIP ice core (Greenland), permil (NGRIP members, 2004). Orange dots: temperature reconstruction for the NGRIP drilling site (Kindler et al., 2014). Dark violet line: δ18O from the EDML ice core (Antarctica), permil (EPICA community members, 2006). Grey areas: major Heinrich events of mostly Laurentide origine (H1, H2, H4, H5). Grey hatch: major Heinrich events of mostly European origine (H3, H6). Light grey hatch and numbers C-14 to C-25: minor IRD layers registered in North Atlantic marine sediment cores (Chapman et al., 1999). HS-1 to HS-10: Heinrich Stadial (HS, Heinrich, 1988; Rasmussen et al., 2003; Rashid et al., 2003). GS-2 to GS-24: Greenland Stadial (GS, Rasmussen et al., 2014). AIM-1 to AIM-24: Antarctic Isotope Maximum (AIM, EPICA community members, 2006). Antarctica and Greenland ice core records are shown on their common timescale AICC2012 (Bazin et al., 2013; Veres et al., 2013).
Contents
1 Description
2 Potential climatic fingerprint of Heinrich events
3 Unusual Heinrich events
4 Causes
4.1 Internal forcings—the "binge–purge" model
4.2 External forcings
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
- - -
Causes
The ratio of calcium versus strontium in a North Atlantic drill core (blue; Hodell et al., 2008) compared to petrologic counts of "detrital carbonate" (Bond et al., 1999; Obrochta et al., 2012; Obrochta et al., 2014), the mineralogically-distinctive component of Hudson Strait-dervied IRD. Shading indicates glaciations ("ice ages").
As with so many climate related issues, the system is far too complex to be confidently assigned to a single cause. There are several possible drivers, which fall into two categories.
Internal forcings—the "binge–purge" model
This model suggests that factors internal to ice sheets cause the periodic disintegration of major ice volumes, responsible for Heinrich events.
The gradual accumulation of ice on the Laurentide ice sheet led to a gradual increase in its mass, as the "binge phase". Once the sheet reached a critical mass, the soft, unconsolidated sub-glacial sediment formed a "slippery lubricant" over which the ice sheet slid, in the "purge phase", lasting around 750 years. The original model (MacAyeal, 1993) proposed that geothermal heat caused the sub-glacial sediment to thaw once the ice volume was large enough to prevent the escape of heat into the atmosphere. The mathematics of the system are consistent with a 7,000-year periodicity, similar to that observed if H3 and H6 are indeed Heinrich events (Sarnthein et al. 2001). However, if H3 and H6 are not Heinrich events, the Binge-Purge model loses credibility, as the predicted periodicity is key to its assumptions. It may also appear suspect because similar events are not observed in other ice ages (Hemming 2004), although this may be due to the lack of high-resolution sediments. In addition, the model predicts that the reduced size of ice sheets during the Pleistocene should reduce the size, impact and frequency of Heinrich events, which is not reflected by the evidence.
External forcings
Several factors external to ice sheets may cause Heinrich events, but such factors would have to be large to overcome attenuation by the huge volumes of ice involved (MacAyeal 1993).
Gerard Bond suggests that changes in the flux of solar energy on a 1,500-year scale may be correlated to the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, and in turn the Heinrich events; however the small magnitude of the change in energy makes such an exo-terrestrial factor unlikely to have the required large effects, at least without huge positive feedback processes acting within the Earth system. However, rather than the warming itself melting the ice, it is possible that sea-level change associated with the warming destabilised ice shelves. A rise in sea level could begin to corrode the bottom of an ice sheet, undercutting it; when one ice sheet failed and surged, the ice released would further raise sea levels, and further destabilizing other ice sheets. In favour of this theory is the non-simultaneity of ice sheet break-up in H1, H2, H4, and H5, where European breakup preceded European melting by up to 1,500 years (Maslin et al. 2001).
Present-day ocean circulation. The Gulf Stream, far left, may be redirected during Heinrich events.
The Atlantic Heat Piracy model suggests that changes in oceanic circulation cause one hemisphere's oceans to become warmer at the other's expense (Seidov and Maslin 2001). Currently, the Gulf Stream redirects warm, equatorial waters towards the northern Nordic Seas. The addition of fresh water to northern oceans may reduce the strength of the Gulf stream, and allow a southwards current to develop instead. This would cause the cooling of the northern hemisphere, and the warming of the southern, causing changes in ice accumulation and melting rates and possibly triggering shelf destruction and Heinrich events (Stocker 1998).
Rohling's 2004 Bipolar model suggests that sea level rise lifted buoyant ice shelves, causing their destabilisation and destruction. Without a floating ice shelf to support them, continental ice sheets would flow out towards the oceans and disintegrate into icebergs and sea ice.
Freshwater addition has been implicated by coupled ocean and atmosphere climate modeling (Ganopolski and Rahmstorf 2001), showing that both Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger events may show hysteresis behaviour. This means that relatively minor changes in freshwater loading into the Nordic Seas, such as a 0.15 Sv increase or 0.03 Sv decrease, would suffice to cause profound shifts in global circulation (Rahmstorf et al. 2005). The results show that a Heinrich event does not cause a cooling around Greenland but further south, mostly in the subtropical Atlantic, a finding supported by most available paleoclimatic data. This idea was connected to D-O events by Maslin et al. (2001). They suggested that each ice sheet had its own conditions of stability, but that on melting, the influx of freshwater was enough to reconfigure ocean currents, and cause melting elsewhere. More specifically, D-O cold events, and their associated influx of meltwater, reduce the strength of the North Atlantic Deep Water current (NADW), weakening the northern-hemisphere circulation and therefore resulting in an increased transfer of heat polewards in the southern hemisphere. This warmer water results in melting of Antarctic ice, thereby reducing density stratification and the strength of the Antarctic Bottom Water current (AABW). This allows the NADW to return to its previous strength, driving northern hemisphere melting and another D-O cold event. Eventually, the accumulation of melting reaches a threshold, whereby it raises sea level enough to undercut the Laurentide ice sheet, thereby causing a Heinrich event and resetting the cycle.
Hunt & Malin (1998) proposed that Heinrich events are caused by earthquakes triggered near the ice margin by rapid deglaciation.
1 Description
2 Potential climatic fingerprint of Heinrich events
3 Unusual Heinrich events
4 Causes
4.1 Internal forcings—the "binge–purge" model
4.2 External forcings
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
- - -
Causes
The ratio of calcium versus strontium in a North Atlantic drill core (blue; Hodell et al., 2008) compared to petrologic counts of "detrital carbonate" (Bond et al., 1999; Obrochta et al., 2012; Obrochta et al., 2014), the mineralogically-distinctive component of Hudson Strait-dervied IRD. Shading indicates glaciations ("ice ages").
As with so many climate related issues, the system is far too complex to be confidently assigned to a single cause. There are several possible drivers, which fall into two categories.
Internal forcings—the "binge–purge" model
This model suggests that factors internal to ice sheets cause the periodic disintegration of major ice volumes, responsible for Heinrich events.
The gradual accumulation of ice on the Laurentide ice sheet led to a gradual increase in its mass, as the "binge phase". Once the sheet reached a critical mass, the soft, unconsolidated sub-glacial sediment formed a "slippery lubricant" over which the ice sheet slid, in the "purge phase", lasting around 750 years. The original model (MacAyeal, 1993) proposed that geothermal heat caused the sub-glacial sediment to thaw once the ice volume was large enough to prevent the escape of heat into the atmosphere. The mathematics of the system are consistent with a 7,000-year periodicity, similar to that observed if H3 and H6 are indeed Heinrich events (Sarnthein et al. 2001). However, if H3 and H6 are not Heinrich events, the Binge-Purge model loses credibility, as the predicted periodicity is key to its assumptions. It may also appear suspect because similar events are not observed in other ice ages (Hemming 2004), although this may be due to the lack of high-resolution sediments. In addition, the model predicts that the reduced size of ice sheets during the Pleistocene should reduce the size, impact and frequency of Heinrich events, which is not reflected by the evidence.
External forcings
Several factors external to ice sheets may cause Heinrich events, but such factors would have to be large to overcome attenuation by the huge volumes of ice involved (MacAyeal 1993).
Gerard Bond suggests that changes in the flux of solar energy on a 1,500-year scale may be correlated to the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, and in turn the Heinrich events; however the small magnitude of the change in energy makes such an exo-terrestrial factor unlikely to have the required large effects, at least without huge positive feedback processes acting within the Earth system. However, rather than the warming itself melting the ice, it is possible that sea-level change associated with the warming destabilised ice shelves. A rise in sea level could begin to corrode the bottom of an ice sheet, undercutting it; when one ice sheet failed and surged, the ice released would further raise sea levels, and further destabilizing other ice sheets. In favour of this theory is the non-simultaneity of ice sheet break-up in H1, H2, H4, and H5, where European breakup preceded European melting by up to 1,500 years (Maslin et al. 2001).
Present-day ocean circulation. The Gulf Stream, far left, may be redirected during Heinrich events.
The Atlantic Heat Piracy model suggests that changes in oceanic circulation cause one hemisphere's oceans to become warmer at the other's expense (Seidov and Maslin 2001). Currently, the Gulf Stream redirects warm, equatorial waters towards the northern Nordic Seas. The addition of fresh water to northern oceans may reduce the strength of the Gulf stream, and allow a southwards current to develop instead. This would cause the cooling of the northern hemisphere, and the warming of the southern, causing changes in ice accumulation and melting rates and possibly triggering shelf destruction and Heinrich events (Stocker 1998).
Rohling's 2004 Bipolar model suggests that sea level rise lifted buoyant ice shelves, causing their destabilisation and destruction. Without a floating ice shelf to support them, continental ice sheets would flow out towards the oceans and disintegrate into icebergs and sea ice.
Freshwater addition has been implicated by coupled ocean and atmosphere climate modeling (Ganopolski and Rahmstorf 2001), showing that both Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger events may show hysteresis behaviour. This means that relatively minor changes in freshwater loading into the Nordic Seas, such as a 0.15 Sv increase or 0.03 Sv decrease, would suffice to cause profound shifts in global circulation (Rahmstorf et al. 2005). The results show that a Heinrich event does not cause a cooling around Greenland but further south, mostly in the subtropical Atlantic, a finding supported by most available paleoclimatic data. This idea was connected to D-O events by Maslin et al. (2001). They suggested that each ice sheet had its own conditions of stability, but that on melting, the influx of freshwater was enough to reconfigure ocean currents, and cause melting elsewhere. More specifically, D-O cold events, and their associated influx of meltwater, reduce the strength of the North Atlantic Deep Water current (NADW), weakening the northern-hemisphere circulation and therefore resulting in an increased transfer of heat polewards in the southern hemisphere. This warmer water results in melting of Antarctic ice, thereby reducing density stratification and the strength of the Antarctic Bottom Water current (AABW). This allows the NADW to return to its previous strength, driving northern hemisphere melting and another D-O cold event. Eventually, the accumulation of melting reaches a threshold, whereby it raises sea level enough to undercut the Laurentide ice sheet, thereby causing a Heinrich event and resetting the cycle.
Hunt & Malin (1998) proposed that Heinrich events are caused by earthquakes triggered near the ice margin by rapid deglaciation.
