PALEOCEANOGRAPHY OF THE LAST INTERGLACIAL GLACIAL CYCLE IN THE POLAR NORTH-ATLANTIC/

Using to its position close to the sites of waxing and waning of the m ajor northern hemisphere ice sheets during the Late Quaternary climati c cycles, the Polar North Atlantic plays a key role in driving global change. Therefore, analyzing the present-day sedimentation processes a nd reconstructing the Late Quaternary paleoceanography in this region has been a focus of major scientific interest through the last fifteen years. This paper aims to combine the vast amount of new results abou t modern sediment fluxes, surface sediment distribution and the paleoc eanographic record and to present a comprehensive overview of the pale oceanography in the Polar North Atlantic through the last 200,000 year s, which is based on the basinwide analysis of carbonate and ice-rafte d detritus records. During the last fifteen years the CLIMAP paleocean ographic view of the glacial Polar North Atlantic as an almost permane ntly isolated sea covered by heavy sea ice throughout the year has bee n shifted to a much more dynamic view of the environmental conditions. A meridional current system similar to the present-day conditions sec ured the exchange of water, ice and heat between the Polar North Atlan tic and the Alantic and Arctic Oceans. Although affected by variations in strength and intensity this meridional current pattern resulted in an almost permanent presence of at least some seasonally ice-free are as, with all the consequences for e.g. marine life and deep water form ation. In addition, the development of the continental ice sheets, nam ely the Fennoscandian and the Barents Sea ice sheets, is closely relat ed to this dynamic circulation pattern. During the so-called Nordway e vents the pronounced inflow of temperate waters from the south provide d moisture for the growth of the ice sheets. The most prominent of the se events (Stage 6, Stage 4 and Substage 3.1/2) ended in major glaciat ions, reflected in the terrestrial sequences and in the deep-sea IRD r ecords. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.