Environmental News Network - Evidence of Climate Change in the North Atlantic can be Seen in the Deep Ocean, Study Finds

Details: By Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; 17.Nov

Woods Hole, Mass. –Evidence of climate change in the North Atlantic during the last 1,000 years can be seen in the deep ocean, according to a newly published paper led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and University College London.

Cheryl Porter

Woods Hole, Mass. –Evidence of climate change in the North Atlantic during the last 1,000 years can be seen in the deep ocean, according to a newly published paper led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and University College London. 

The paper, “Surface climate signals transmitted rapidly to deep North Atlantic throughout last millennium,” published in Science, presents records from North Atlantic sediments that agree with observations of recent surface and deep ocean warming and freshening. 

The scientists’ data also show a connection between the surface and the deep ocean throughout the last 1,200 years. This time period includes climate oscillations such as the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly (around 850-1250 Common Era, CE) and the cold Little Ice Age spanning around 1400-1850 CE], as well as modern warming.

A multicorer being recovered in 2014. The sediment in the tubes is approximately how much has accumulated in the past 1,000 years. (Photo Credit: Ian Hall, Cardiff University)

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Evidence of Climate Change in the North Atlantic can be Seen in the Deep Ocean, Study Finds