A càrrec de r. Rainer ZAHN (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), UAB, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Organitzat conjuntament CSIC-UB

Dia: 13-07-2010
Hora: 12:00
Lloc: Sala de Juntes de la Facultat de Geologia

comentaris:
Palaeoceanographic profiles at the southern tip of Africa record a highly variable surface-ocean climatology. The data allude to the build-up of salt and heat in the region that occurred in conjunction with global climate changes and shifting regional wind fields. Latitudinal migration of the Subtropical Front potentially impacted the geometry of the ocean gateway off South Africa hence affecting the leakage of warm salty waters from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Ocean models suggest that the buoyancy anomaly associated with this inter-ocean water transport affects convective activity in the subpolar North Atlantic, hence holding significance for the mode of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and climate. The palaeo-data suggest progressive warming and salinity increases during glacial times which is in direct contrast to global developments. Surface water warming and salinification are mirrored in the abundance distribution of subtropical plankto