Diatom-reconstructed summer sea-surface temperatures and climatic events off North Iceland during the last deglaciation and Holocene

Longbin Sha, Karen Luise Knudsen, Jón Eiríksson, Svante Björck, Hui Jiang, Xiaodong Yang, Xubiao Yu, Dongling Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Lateglacial and Holocene summer sea-surface temperature (SST) variability in the northern North Atlantic was reconstructed based on diatom records from two sediment cores from the North Icelandic shelf. The temperature changes are discussed in relation to palaeoceanographic circulation patterns and past climatic changes. Modern diatom data from surface sediments from around Iceland and Southeast and West Greenland, with known modern environmental variables, were used as the basis for the quantitative reconstruction of summer SST. The results show that summer SSTs varied during both the Lateglacial and the Holocene, but the amplitude of SST variations during the Lateglacial was greater than that during the Holocene. No pronounced warm or cool events were recorded on the North Icelandic shelf during the GI-1e to GI-1a events (Bølling-Allerød) and the GS-1 event (Younger Dryas). The changes in SST were possibly caused by major changes in the ocean circulation pattern around Iceland, and by minor variations in the interaction between the cold and warm currents in the region. Comparison of the reconstructed summer SSTs with other marine records from the North Atlantic suggests an antiphase relationship between the oceanic climatic responses off North Iceland and in the eastern North Atlantic during the Lateglacial and the earliest part of the Holocene (the Preboreal).

Original languageEnglish
Article number111154
JournalPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Volume602
Number of pages10
ISSN0031-0182
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Keywords

  • Diatoms
  • Holocene
  • Lateglacial
  • North Icelandic shelf
  • Palaeoceanographic changes
  • Quantitative reconstruction

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