Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
The Holocene
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Prange, M.
Right arrow Articles by Lohmann, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Effects of mid-Holocene river runoff on the Arctic ocean/sea-ice system: a numerical model study

Matthias Prange

mprange{at}palmod.uni-bremnen.de

Gerrit Lohmann

University of Bremen, Geosciences Department, PO 330 440, D-28334 Bremen, Germany

Recent geological studies have revealed that the freshwater input to the Arctic Ocean was highly variable during the Holocene. In the present study, the influence of mid-Holocene river runoff on large-scale Arctic ocean/sea-ice dynamics is examined using a general circulation model. A palaeohydrological forcing for the time interval around 6 ka BP (14C timescale) is constructed by compiling data from the available literature. Keeping all other forcing fields and bottom topography of the ocean model at present-day values, the effect of a changed freshwater input to the Arctic Ocean is isolated. The model shows that freshwater supply is vitally important for the polar oceanic circulation. In particular, a close connection between Siberian river runoff and the path of the Transpolar Drift (TPD) is found. Consistent with palaeoceanographic findings of driftwood delivery to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Baffin Bay, the model results suggest that enhanced freshwater discharge during the mid-Holocene caused an eastward shift of the TPD with strengthened outflow through Fram Strait.

Key Words: Ocean/sea-ice modelling • Arctic river runoff • Arctic palaeoceanography • Transpolar Drift • Holocene

The Holocene, Vol. 13, No. 3, 335-342 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683603hl626rp
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Progress in Physical GeographyHome page
E. S.J. Dollar
Fluvial geomorphology
Progress in Physical Geography, September 1, 2004; 28(3): 405 - 450.
[PDF]