A new study looking at variations in past sea ice cover in the Norwegian Sea found the shrinkage and growth of ice was instrumental in several abrupt climate changes between 32,000 and 40,000 years ago.
The growth or shrinkage of sea ice is often viewed as a symptom of climate change, but new research shows it may have played a more causative role in abrupt climate changes thousands of years ago.
The study, which was published today in Science Advances, examined sediment core extracted from the Southern Norwegian sea to find that there were dramatic changes in the sea ice cover 32,000 to 40,000 years ago.
UNSW Scientia Fellow Dr Laurie Menviel who works with the Climate Change Research Centre performed numerical model simulations of climate conditions that highlighted the tight coupling between the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and sea-ice cover in the Norwegian Sea.
The study, which was led by Dr Henrik Sadatzki from the Department of Earth Science and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen (Norway), analysed marine sediment cores from the Norwegian sea to reconstruct changes in sea ice during the last glacial period, focusing on the abrupt climate change events. This was complemented by climate model simulations of the last glacial period.
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