Paleoceanography of the NE North Atlantic during the Holocene

Abstract

This thesis aimed at enhancing our understanding of the oceanographic variability of the Nordic Seas during the last 11,000 years. The Nordic Seas are a key area within the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a process which helps to maintain the present mild climate of northwestern Europe through its meridional heat transport and plays an important role in global heat distribution. Sediment cores from key locations within the Nordic Seas were retrieved and analyzed for their microfossils content in order to reconstruct the water mass characteristics. The results of this thesis show that the inflow of warm Atlantic Water has occurred continuously throughout the last 11,000 years in the western Barents Sea. The strength of the inflow has however been variable. High –resolution records covering the last 3000 years document the temperature variability of Atlantic Water and show that the recent warming stands as unprecedented over this time period. Further, changing modes of deep water convection are implied for the last century.