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Coupled North Atlantic slope water forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium

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Abstract

To investigate ocean variability during the last millennium in the Western Gulf of Maine (GOM), we collected a 142-year-old living bivalve (Arctica islandica L.) in 2004, and three fossil A. islandica shells (calibrated 14CAMS = 1030 ± 78 ad; 1320 ± 45 ad; 1357 ± 40 ad) for stable isotope and growth increment analysis. A statistically significant relationship exists between modern GOM temperature records [shell isotope-derived (30 m) (r = −0.79; P < 0.007), Prince 5 (50 m) (r = −0.72; P < 0.019), Boothbay Harbor SST (r = −0.76; P < 0.011)], and Labrador Current (LC) transport data from the Eastern Newfoundland Slope during 1993–2003. In all cases, as LC transport increased, GOM water temperatures decreased the following year. Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) influence GOM water temperatures in the most recent period, with water temperatures decreasing during NAO and AMO negative modes most likely linked to LC transport and Gulf Stream interaction. Mean shell-derived isotopic changes (δ18Oc) during the last 1,000 years were +0.47‰ and likely reflect a 1–2°C cooling from 1000 ad to present. Based on these results, we suggest that observed cooling in the GOM during the last millennium was due to increased transport and/or cooling of the LC, and decreased Gulf Stream influence on the GOM.

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Acknowledgments

We thank David Rodland and Sven Baier for their help preparing shell samples (INCREMENTS Research Group, University of Mainz), NOSAMS at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for AMS analyses, Association of Graduate Students (University of Maine) for travel support, Lloyd Keigwin, David Lund, and Thomas Marchitto for providing proxy data for Fig. 6, and Fei Chai (University of Maine) for helpful conversations that shaped this manuscript. North Atlantic Oscillation data were provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (Climate Prediction Center; available at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/teledoc/nao.shtml). Portland Maine air temperatures were provided by NOAA National Climate Data Center (available at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/me.html). Prince 5 station data were provided by Marine Environmental Data Services (Fisheries and Ocean Division of Canada; available at http://www.meds-sdmm.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/zmp/main_zmp_e.html). We thank Thomas Marchitto and an anonymous reviewer for providing constructive criticism and suggestions that substantially improved this manuscript. This study has been made possible in part by a German Research Foundation (DFG) grant (to BRS) within the framework of the Emmy Noether Program (SCH0793/1). This research was funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF ATM-0222553).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Institute and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469-5790, USA

    Alan D. Wanamaker Jr, Karl J. Kreutz, Harold W. Borns, Douglas S. Introne, Daniel Belknap & Kirk A. Maasch

  2. School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales at Bangor, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, LL59 5AB, UK

    Alan D. Wanamaker Jr

  3. Increments Research Group, Department of Paleontology, Institute of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Bernd R. Schöne

  4. School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469-5790, USA

    Neal Pettigrew

  5. Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, Walpole, ME, 04573, USA

    Scott Feindel

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  1. Alan D. Wanamaker Jr
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Wanamaker, A.D., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R. et al. Coupled North Atlantic slope water forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium. Clim Dyn 31, 183–194 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-007-0344-8

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