GFI/BCCR Seminar: Changes in the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation over the last 3000 years

Paola Moffa Sanchez (Rutgers University):

Changes in the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation over the last 3000 years

Abstract
The Labrador Sea is a key location for the Earth's climate system because the intermediate waters formed here ventilate the intermediate depths of the North Atlantic and beyond. Various studies have revealed considerable spatial and temporal variability, associated with the formation and meridional transport of this water mass, over the past few decades. Yet, crucially, because of the limited temporal extent of the instrumental records, its longer-term history and interactions with the climate at multidecadal to centennial time-scales remains limited.

In this talk, I will present new multi-proxy records from decadally resolved marine sediment cores to infer hydrographic changes in the LSW and their relation to centennial climate variability over the late Holocene. These results will then be compared to proxy reconstructions of the strength of the Nordic Seas Overflows over this same period to extract some conclusions on how the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may have varied over the last 3000 years.