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PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, VOL. 21, PA2017, doi:10.1029/2005PA001214, 2006

Holocene history of drift ice in the northern North Atlantic: Evidence for different spatial and temporal modes

Matthias Moros

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research and Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway


John T. Andrews

Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Dennis D. Eberl

U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Eystein Jansen

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research and Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway


Abstract

We present new high-resolution proxy data for the Holocene history of drift ice off Iceland based on the mineralogy of the <2-mm sediment fraction using quantitative X-ray diffraction. These new data, bolstered by a comparison with published proxy records, point to a long-term increasing trend in drift ice input into the North Atlantic from 6 to 5 ka toward the present day at sites influenced by the cold east Greenland Current. This feature reflects the late Holocene Neoglacial or cooling period recorded in ice cores and further terrestrial archives on Greenland. In contrast, a decrease in drift ice during the same period is recorded at sites underlying the North Atlantic Drift, which may reflect a warming of this region. The results document that Holocene changes in iceberg rafting and sea ice advection did not occur uniformly across the North Atlantic. Centennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic region over the last ∼4 kyr is linked to the observed changes in drift ice input. Increased drift ice may have played a role in the increase of cold intervals during the late Holocene, e.g., the Little Ice Age cooling.

Received 1 September 2005; accepted 1 February 2006; published 8 June 2006.

Keywords: Holocene climate; drift ice; North Atlantic.

Index Terms: 0732 Cryosphere: Icebergs; 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 0750 Cryosphere: Sea ice (4540); 4954 Paleoceanography: Sea surface temperature.

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Citation: Moros, M., J. T. Andrews, D. D. Eberl, and E. Jansen (2006), Holocene history of drift ice in the northern North Atlantic: Evidence for different spatial and temporal modes, Paleoceanography, 21, PA2017, doi:10.1029/2005PA001214.