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Little Ice Age abruptly triggered by intrusion of Atlantic waters into the Nordic Seas.

ABSTRACT: The Little Ice Age (LIA) was one of the coldest periods of the postglacial period in the Northern Hemisphere. Although there is increasing evidence that this time interval was associated with weakening of the subpolar gyre (SPG), the sequence of events that led to its weakened state has yet to be explained. Here, we show that the LIA was preceded by an exceptional intrusion of warm Atlantic water into the Nordic Seas in the late 1300s. The intrusion was a consequence of persistent atmospheric blocking over the North Atlantic, linked to unusually high solar activity. The warmer water led to the breakup of sea ice and calving of tidewater glaciers; weakening of the blocking anomaly in the late 1300s allowed the large volume of ice that had accumulated to be exported into the North Atlantic. This led to a weakening of the SPG, setting the stage for the subsequent LIA.

SUBMITTER: Lapointe F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8673760 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Little Ice Age abruptly triggered by intrusion of Atlantic waters into the Nordic Seas.

Lapointe Francois F Bradley Raymond S RS

Science advances 20211215 51

The Little Ice Age (LIA) was one of the coldest periods of the postglacial period in the Northern Hemisphere. Although there is increasing evidence that this time interval was associated with weakening of the subpolar gyre (SPG), the sequence of events that led to its weakened state has yet to be explained. Here, we show that the LIA was preceded by an exceptional intrusion of warm Atlantic water into the Nordic Seas in the late 1300s. The intrusion was a consequence of persistent atmospheric bl ...[more]

PMID: 34910526

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Project description:Nordic Seas are the subarctic seas connecting the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean with complex water masses, experiencing an abrupt climate change. Though knowledge of the marine virosphere has expanded rapidly, the diversity of viruses and their relationships with host cells and water masses in the Nordic Seas remain to be fully revealed. Here, we establish the Nordic Sea DNA virome (NSV) data set of 55,315 viral contigs including 1,478 unique viral populations from seven stations influenced by both the warm Atlantic and cold Arctic water masses. Caudovirales dominated in the seven NSVs, especially in the warm Atlantic waters. The major giant nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) contributed a significant proportion of the classified viral contigs in the NSVs (32.2%), especially in the cold Arctic waters (44.9%). The distribution patterns of Caudovirales and NCLDVs were a reflection of the community structure of their hosts in the corresponding water masses and currents. Latitude, pH, and flow speed were found to be key factors influencing the microbial communities and coinfluencing the variation of viral communities. Network analysis illustrated the tight coupling between the variation of viral communities and microbial communities in the Nordic Seas. This study suggests a probable linkage between viromes, host cells, and surface water masses from both the cool Arctic and warm Atlantic Oceans. IMPORTANCE This is a systematic study of Nordic Sea viromes using metagenomic analysis. The viral diversity, community structure, and their relationships with host cells and the complex water masses from both the cool Arctic and the warm Atlantic oceans were illustrated. The NCLDVs and Caudovirales are proposed as the viral characteristics of the cold Arctic and warm Atlantic waters, respectively. This study provides an important background for the viromes in the subarctic seas connecting the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean and sheds light on their responses to abrupt climate change in the future.

Dataset Information

Little Ice Age abruptly triggered by intrusion of Atlantic waters into the Nordic Seas.

Publications

Little Ice Age abruptly triggered by intrusion of Atlantic waters into the Nordic Seas.

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