The boundary between polar and tropical air masses shifted dramatically over the past 125,000 years. During the warm Eemian period, the polar front sat near the Arctic Circle, but by the Late Glacial Maximum 18,000 years ago, it had migrated south to off the coast of Portugal. During the Younger Dryas cold period, this front occupied an intermediate position between these extremes, representing an enormous climatic boundary shift.
Polar front migrated from Arctic to Portugal over 100,000 years
Key facts
- During the Eemian (125,000 years ago), polar front was far north near the Arctic Circle
- During Late Glacial Maximum (18,000 years ago), polar front migrated to off the coast of Portugal
- This represents enormous migration of the boundary between polar and tropical air masses
- During Younger Dryas, polar front position was intermediate between these extremes
Sources
Seasonal variability in temperature trends and atmospheric ...sciencedirect.com
The cooling events in the early and late Eemian can be linked to disturbances in the North Atlantic Ocean circulation. Our study complements the ...
Fast-forward to the past - WWF Arcticarcticwwf.org
We have used this model to predict how both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have evolved in the past, as well as how they might change in the future.
A seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean during the Last Interglacial - Naturenature.com
Here we use microfossil records from across the central Arctic Ocean to show that sea-ice extent was substantially reduced and summers were probably ice free.
Arctic-Global Linkages | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkittoolkit.climate.gov
The character of the polar vortex is linked to the phase of the Arctic Oscillation, a large-scale climate pattern that influences weather throughout the ...
Arctic Ocean sea ice cover during the penultimate glacial and ... - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Evidence for a steeper Eemian than Holocene sea surface temperature gradient between arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol ...
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