Atmospheric patterns driving Holocene productivity in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean): A multiproxy approach

Ausin, B.; Flores, J. A.; Sierro, F. J.; Cacho, I.; Hernandez Almeida, Ivan; Martrat, B.; Grimalt, J. O. (2015). Atmospheric patterns driving Holocene productivity in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean): A multiproxy approach. Holocene, 25(4), pp. 583-595. Sage 10.1177/0959683614565952

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High-resolution paleoproductivity variations have been reconstructed in a productive cell in the Alboran Sea for the Holocene. Fossil coccolithophore assemblages have been studied along with the U37k′-estimated sea-surface temperature (SST) and other paleoenvironmental proxies. The appearance of this cell is suggested at 7.7 ka cal. BP and was linked to the establishment of the western anti-cyclonic gyre. From that time until the present, the nannofossil accumulation rate of Florisphaera profunda has revealed successive episodes of weakening and strengthening of upwelling conditions in the Alboran Sea that have been simultaneous to changes in Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) formation in the Gulf of Lions. A two-phase scenario operating at millennial–centennial time scale is proposed to explain this climatic and oceanographic variability: (1) coeval with more arid climate conditions, weaker northerlies or north-westerlies blowing over the Gulf of Lions would have triggered a slackening of WMDW formation. This together with a minor Atlantic Jet (AJ) inflowing into the Alboran Sea would have led to less vertical mixing and, hence, a more stable water column in the study area; (2) wetter climate conditions would have prevailed in the region, while stronger northerlies or north-westerlies would have enabled WMDW reinforcement in the Gulf of Lions simultaneous to an intensification of the AJ that migrated southward. This would have increased vertical mixing, intensifying upwelling conditions in the study area. Here, the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is considered to be an important forcing mechanism for this variability, influencing WMDW formation, which in turn has been linked to short-term productivity variations during the last 7.7ka in the Alboran Sea.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Paleolimnology
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Hernandez Almeida, Ivan

Subjects:

500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

0959-6836

Publisher:

Sage

Language:

English

Submitter:

Monika Wälti-Stampfli

Date Deposited:

15 May 2015 09:39

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:46

Publisher DOI:

10.1177/0959683614565952

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.68234

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/68234

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