Potential Role of Mid‐Latitude Seaway on Early Paleogene Atlantic Overturning Circulation

The role of the mid‐latitude seaway between the proto‐Paratethys and the North Sea on the early Paleogene ocean circulation is examined with a state‐of‐art earth system model. The early Eocene simulations here demonstrate that the open mid‐latitude seaway captures most relatively fresh surface water from the Arctic and Greenland‐Norwegian Sea and prohibits them from leaking into the Labrador Sea, thus benefiting the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). However, the closure of the seaway triggers the AMOC reduction as more relatively fresh surface water enters the Labrador Sea, and the AMOC finally shuts down. Together with geological reconstructions, our results also provide insights into understanding the evolution of the Atlantic‐Arctic oceanic gateways during the Paleogene.

[1]  K. Nisancioglu,et al.  Climate transition at the Eocene–Oligocene influenced by bathymetric changes to the Atlantic–Arctic oceanic gateways , 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[2]  A. Abe‐Ouchi,et al.  Early Eocene Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation: The Roles of Atmospheric Forcing and Strait Geometry , 2022, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology.

[3]  E. Sheldon,et al.  Paleocene-Eocene volcanic segmentation of the Norwegian-Greenland seaway reorganized high-latitude ocean circulation , 2021, Communications Earth & Environment.

[4]  Zhengyu Liu,et al.  Weakening Atlantic overturning circulation causes South Atlantic salinity pile-up , 2020, Nature Climate Change.

[5]  B. Otto‐Bliesner,et al.  North Atlantic subsurface temperature response controlled by effective freshwater input in “Heinrich” events , 2020, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

[6]  D. J. Thomas,et al.  Nd isotopic structure of the Pacific Ocean 40–10 Ma, and evidence for the reorganization of deep North Pacific Ocean circulation between 36 and 25 Ma , 2019, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

[7]  R. Caballero,et al.  Arctic closure as a trigger for Atlantic overturning at the Eocene-Oligocene Transition , 2019, Nature Communications.

[8]  G. Dupont‐Nivet,et al.  Central Asian moisture modulated by proto-Paratethys Sea incursions since the early Eocene , 2019, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

[9]  M. Stoica,et al.  Paleogene evolution and demise of the proto‐Paratethys Sea in Central Asia (Tarim and Tajik basins): Role of intensified tectonic activity at ca. 41 Ma , 2019, Basin Research.

[10]  A. Osborne,et al.  Major intensification of Atlantic overturning circulation at the onset of Paleogene greenhouse warmth , 2018, Nature Communications.

[11]  H. Pälike,et al.  Ocean and climate response to North Atlantic seaway changes at the onset of long-term Eocene cooling , 2018, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

[12]  Claire E Huck,et al.  Export of nutrient rich Northern Component Water preceded early Oligocene Antarctic glaciation , 2018, Nature Geoscience.

[13]  K. Lindsay,et al.  Asynchronous warming and δ18O evolution of deep Atlantic water masses during the last deglaciation , 2017, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[14]  W. Jokat,et al.  Threshold in North Atlantic-Arctic Ocean circulation controlled by the subsidence of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge , 2017, Nature Communications.

[15]  T. Weber,et al.  Influence of ocean tides on the general ocean circulation in the early Eocene , 2017 .

[16]  E. Galbraith,et al.  Enhanced weathering and CO2 drawdown caused by latest Eocene strengthening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation , 2017 .

[17]  B. Romans,et al.  Cenozoic North Atlantic deep circulation history recorded in contourite drifts, offshore Newfoundland, Canada , 2017 .

[18]  Gregory J. L. Tourte,et al.  The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4 , 2017 .

[19]  A. Tripati,et al.  Constraints on ocean circulation at the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum from neodymium isotopes , 2015 .

[20]  K. Meissner,et al.  Sudden spreading of corrosive bottom water during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum , 2015 .

[21]  P. Claeys,et al.  Early Eocene environmental development in the northern Peri-Tethys (Aktulagay, Kazakhstan) based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes (O, C) , 2015 .

[22]  R. Müller,et al.  A Suite of Early Eocene (~55 Ma) Climate Model Boundary Conditions , 2014 .

[23]  S. Barker,et al.  Timing of the descent into the last Ice Age determined by the bipolar seesaw , 2014 .

[24]  M. Huber,et al.  Nd isotopic structure of the Pacific Ocean 70–30 Ma and numerical evidence for vigorous ocean circulation and ocean heat transport in a greenhouse world , 2014 .

[25]  T. Ilyina,et al.  Ocean biogeochemistry in the warm climate of the late Paleocene , 2014 .

[26]  M. Katz,et al.  Bipolar Atlantic deepwater circulation in the middle-late Eocene: Effects of Southern Ocean gateway openings , 2014 .

[27]  G. Dupont‐Nivet,et al.  Aridification in continental Asia after the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) , 2014 .

[28]  C. King,et al.  The Aktulagay section, west Kazakhstan: a key site for northern mid-latitude Early Eocene stratigraphy , 2013, Stratigraphy.

[29]  W. Collins,et al.  The Community Earth System Model: A Framework for Collaborative Research , 2013 .

[30]  J. Cartwright,et al.  Onset of North Atlantic Deep Water production coincident with inception of the Cenozoic global cooling trend , 2012 .

[31]  S. Robinson,et al.  Widespread and synchronous change in deep-ocean circulation in the North and South Atlantic during the Late Cretaceous , 2012 .

[32]  B. Otto‐Bliesner,et al.  The role of meltwater-induced subsurface ocean warming in regulating the Atlantic meridional overturning in glacial climate simulations , 2011 .

[33]  P. Clark,et al.  Ice-shelf collapse from subsurface warming as a trigger for Heinrich events , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[34]  A. Tripati,et al.  Climate sensitivity to Arctic seaway restriction during the early Paleogene , 2009 .

[35]  Z. Liu,et al.  Transient Simulation of Last Deglaciation with a New Mechanism for Bølling-Allerød Warming , 2009, Science.

[36]  D. Jiang,et al.  What triggers the transition of palaeoenvironmental patterns in China；the Tibetan Plateau uplift or the Paratethys Sea retreat? , 2007 .

[37]  James C. McWilliams,et al.  Diurnal Coupling in the Tropical Oceans of CCSM3 , 2006 .

[38]  D. J. Thomas,et al.  Early Oligocene Onset of Deep-Water Production in the North Atlantic , 2005 .

[39]  T. L. Rasmussen,et al.  The role of the North Atlantic Drift in the millennial timescale glacial climate fluctuations , 2004 .

[40]  M. England,et al.  Effect of the Drake Passage Throughflow on Global Climate , 2004 .

[41]  J. E. Meulenkamp,et al.  Tertiary palaeogeography and tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Northern and Southern Peri-Tethys platforms and the intermediate domains of the African–Eurasian convergent plate boundary zone , 2003 .

[42]  C. E. Jones,et al.  Neodymium isotopic reconstruction of late Paleocene–early Eocene thermohaline circulation , 2003 .

[43]  Lisa Cirbus Sloan,et al.  Heat transport, deep waters, and thermal gradients: Coupled simulation of an Eocene greenhouse climate , 2001 .

[44]  G. Ramstein,et al.  Effect of orogeny, plate motion and land–sea distribution on Eurasian climate change over the past 30 million years , 1997, Nature.

[45]  W. Large,et al.  Oceanic vertical mixing: a review and a model with a nonlocal boundary layer parameterization , 1994 .

[46]  Gregory J. L. Tourte,et al.  The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4: experimental design for model simulations of the EECO, PETM, and pre-PETM (version 1.0) , 2017 .

[47]  M. England,et al.  Atlantic‐Pacific seesaw and its role in outgassing CO2 during Heinrich events , 2014 .

[48]  A. Iakovleva.  Palynological reconstruction of the Eocene marine palaeoenvironments in south of Western Siberia , 2011 .

[49]  E. Radionova,et al.  Early Paleogene transgressions: Stratigraphical and sedimentological evidence from the northern Peri-Tethys , 2003 .

[50]  P. Gent,et al.  Isopycnal mixing in ocean circulation models , 1990 .