Heinrich event 1: an example of dynamical ice-sheet reaction to oceanic changes

J. Alvarez-Solas (1, 2, 3) , M. Montoya (1, 4) , C. Ritz (5) , G. Ramstein (2, 3) , S. Charbit (2, 3) , C. Dumas (2, 3) , K. Nisancioglu (6) , T. Dokken (6) , A. Ganopolski (7)

1 Departamento de Astrofisica y Ciencias de la Atmósfera
2 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
3 CLIM - Modélisation du climat
4 Instituto de Geociencias (UCM-CSIC)
5 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
6 BCCR - Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
7 PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Heinrich events, identified as enhanced ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in North Atlantic deep sea sediments ( Hein- rich , 1988 ; Hemming , 2004 ) have classically been attributed to Laurentide ice-sheet (LIS) instabilities ( MacAyeal , 1993 ; Calov et al. , 2002 ; Hulbe et al. , 2004 ) and assumed to lead to important disruptions of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and North Atlantic deep water (NADW) formation. However, recent paleoclimate data have revealed that most of these events probably occurred after the AMOC had already slowed down or/and NADW largely collapsed, within about a thousand years ( Hall et al. , 2006 ; Hemming , 2004 ; Jonkers et al. , 2010 ; Roche et al. , 2004 ), implying that the initial AMOC reduction could not have been caused by the Heinrich events themselves. Here we propose an alternative driving mechanism, specif- ically for Heinrich event 1 (H1; 18 to 15 ka BP), by which North Atlantic ocean circulation changes are found to have strong impacts on LIS dynamics. By combining simula- tions with a coupled climate model and a three-dimensional ice sheet model, our study illustrates how reduced NADW and AMOC weakening lead to a subsurface warming in the Nordic and Labrador Seas resulting in rapid melting of the Hudson Strait and Labrador ice shelves. Lack of buttressing by the ice shelves implies a substantial ice-stream acceler- ation, enhanced ice-discharge and sea level rise, with peak values 500-1500 yr after the initial AMOC reduction. Our scenario modifies the previous paradigm of H1 by solving the paradox of its occurrence during a cold surface period, and highlights the importance of taking into account the ef- fects of oceanic circulation on ice-sheets dynamics in order to elucidate the triggering mechanism of Heinrich events.

Domains: Earth Sciences

J. Alvarez-Solas, M. Montoya, C. Ritz, G. Ramstein, S. Charbit, et al.. Heinrich event 1: an example of dynamical ice-sheet reaction to oceanic changes. Climate of the Past, 2011, 7, pp.1297- 1306. ⟨10.5194/cp-7-1297-2011⟩. ⟨insu-00843368⟩