This study investigates the temperature and salinity changes of surface water inflow to a region of deep-water formation throughout the Holocene. It is found that the inflow has undergone millennial-scale variations in temperature and salinity that correlate with previously reported periods of rapid climate change. The inflow becomes more saline during enhanced freshwater flux to the subpolar North Atlantic. Model studies predict a weakening of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in response to enhanced Arctic freshwater fluxes, although the inflow can compensate on decadal timescales by becoming more saline.
- David J. R. Thornalley
- Harry Elderfield
- I. Nick McCave
