TY - JOUR
T1 - Co-ordinated shifts in deep-water formation and Gulf Stream migration during abrupt climate changes
AU - Zhu, Fangjingcheng
AU - Carter-Champion, Alice
AU - Wharton, Jack H.
AU - Bracamontes-Ramírez, Joel
AU - Burke, Andrea
AU - de Menocal, Peter B.
AU - Fairman, David
AU - Keigwin, Lloyd D.
AU - Marchitto, Thomas M.
AU - Papachristopoulou, Eirini
AU - Rae, James W. B.
AU - Rosenthal, Yair
AU - Zhao, Ning
AU - Thornalley, David J. R.
N1 - Funding was provided to D.J.R.T. by NERC Project ReconAMOC (NE/S009736/1), the Leverhulme Trust RF-2024-538, European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement Nos 678760 (ATLAS) and 818123 (iAtlantic), European Union’s Horizon Europe Project 101059547-EPOC, and the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) through project code SCOP-PR01-P007 VERIFY. Additional funding was provided to A.B. and J.W.B.R. by NERC grant NE/M004619/1. A.C-C. and J.H.W. were supported by the London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership grant (grant no. NE/L002485/1).
PY - 2026/6/11
Y1 - 2026/6/11
N2 - Theory and models suggest the Gulf Stream may shift northwards under projected Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation weakening. Yet Gulf Stream behaviour during past abrupt cold events remains poorly constrained. Here we present high-resolution paleoceanographic records from the Northwest Atlantic during the last deglaciation. During the Younger Dryas cold period, we document a northward Gulf Stream shift evidenced from coherent surface and subsurface warming. Our sortable silt data suggest a strengthening of upper North Atlantic Deep Water that opposes weakening lower North Atlantic Deep Water, consistent with a seesaw feedback between the Nordic overflows and subpolar gyre. Our results constrain a co-ordinated sequence at the Younger Dryas onset: initial lower North Atlantic Deep Water weakening and subpolar sea‑ice expansion, lagged (58 ± 38 yr) by an increase in upper North Atlantic Deep Water and an eventual atmospheric reorganization (84 ± 51 yr after onset). These findings provide empirical support for model projections of future Gulf Stream shifts.
AB - Theory and models suggest the Gulf Stream may shift northwards under projected Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation weakening. Yet Gulf Stream behaviour during past abrupt cold events remains poorly constrained. Here we present high-resolution paleoceanographic records from the Northwest Atlantic during the last deglaciation. During the Younger Dryas cold period, we document a northward Gulf Stream shift evidenced from coherent surface and subsurface warming. Our sortable silt data suggest a strengthening of upper North Atlantic Deep Water that opposes weakening lower North Atlantic Deep Water, consistent with a seesaw feedback between the Nordic overflows and subpolar gyre. Our results constrain a co-ordinated sequence at the Younger Dryas onset: initial lower North Atlantic Deep Water weakening and subpolar sea‑ice expansion, lagged (58 ± 38 yr) by an increase in upper North Atlantic Deep Water and an eventual atmospheric reorganization (84 ± 51 yr after onset). These findings provide empirical support for model projections of future Gulf Stream shifts.
KW - Palaeoceanography
KW - Palaeoclimate
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-026-73832-4
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-73832-4
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 17
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 4966
ER -