The Thermohaline Circulation and Climate Change

Michael P. Erb

The Thermohaline Circulation

Younger Dryas

Glacial Lake Agassiz

“Simulated Tropical Response to a Substantial Weakening of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation” – Zhang & Delworth 2005 Journal of Climate

Climate Model Experiment: an extra freshwater forcing of 0.6 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3s-1) is uniformly distributed over the North Atlantic for 60 years

“Simulated Tropical Response to a Substantial Weakening of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation” – Zhang & Delworth 2005 Journal of Climate

Climate Model Experiment: an extra freshwater forcing of 0.6 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3s-1) is uniformly distributed over the North Atlantic for 60 years

Plate Tectonics can affect the Thermohaline Circulation, too.

Around 3 million years ago the Isthmus of Panama formed, cutting off the mixing of water between the Atlantic and Pacific and forcing ocean circulations to reorganize.

Professional Papers

• Haug, G. H., and R. Tiedemann, 1998. Effect of the formation of the Isthmus of Panama on Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation. Nature, 393, 673-676.

• Teller, J. T., D. W. Leverington, and J. D. Mann, 2002. Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and their role in climate change during the last deglaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 879-887.

• Weaver, A. J., O. A. Saenko, P. U. Clark, and A. X. Mitrovika, 2003. Meltwater Pulso 1A from Antarctica as a Trigger of the Bolling-Allerod Warm Interval. Science, 299, 1709-1713.

• Zhang, R., and T. L. Delworth, 2005. Simulated Tropical Response to a Substantial Weakening of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation. Journal of Climate, 18, 1853-1860.