A. De Vernal et C. Hillaire-marcel, Sea-ice cover, sea-surface salinity and halo-/thermocline structure of thenorthwest North Atlantic: modern versus full glacial conditions, QUAT SCI R, 19(1-5), 2000, pp. 65-85
Seasonal sea-ice develops along the eastern continental margins in the nort
hern North Atlantic, where freshwater and/or meltwater outflow are responsi
ble for relatively low salinity in surface waters and very pronounced water
mass stratification. Sea-ice constitutes a major parameter in the marine e
cosystem since the duration and extent of its seasonal spreading constrain
the plankton distribution and the related microfossil assemblages on the se
a floor. Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts that are highly resistant to d
issolution were recovered from surface sediments of the northern North Atla
ntic, and used to develop transfer functions (best analogue method) for the
reconstruction of the seasonal spreading and duration of sea-ice cover, in
addition to salinity and temperature of the warmest month of the year. App
lication of the best analogue approach to cores from the Labrador Sea revea
ls large variations in sea-ice cover and sea-surface conditions throughout
the last glacial stage and during the early Holocene. Isotopic analyses in
epipelagic and mesopelagic planktonic foraminifers also suggest important c
hanges in salinity and temperature gradients between the surface and sub-su
rface water masses. Specific study of the last glacial maximum LGM time sli
ce (16-20 ka on a C-14 time scale) in the northwestern North Atlantic shows
much more extensive sea-ice than at present, with perennial sea-ice lying
along the continental margins of eastern Canada. Seasonal spreading of the
cover of sea-ice offshore was accompanied by large seasonal contrasts in te
mperature, with very cold winters but relatively warm summers, a pattern li
nked to strong stratification between a buoyant low saline surface layer ha
ving a low thermal inertia, and the underlying intermediate oceanic waters.
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