Reduced North Pacific Deep Water formation across the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40108166.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-58069-x and PMC identifier 11923177.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Today, deep waters do not form in the northern high latitudes of the Pacific Ocean, but this may not have been the case during the Pliocene. Evidence suggests there was a Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation during the warm Late Pliocene, similar to the modern Atlantic Ocean with a weak halocline in the subpolar North Pacific resulting in North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) formation. However, much of this evidence comes from proxies that can be biased by changes in local productivity. We present a coupled Mg/Ca-δ<sup>18</sup>O record from the North Pacific which shows two distinct water masses in the Pliocene North Pacific Ocean, with NPDW colder and fresher than the underlying deeper water. Here, we show a decline in NPDW formation during glacials from 2.7 million years ago, which we suggest demonstrates the strong sensitivity of ocean gateways to sea level and ice volume change in shaping deep water circulation, and thus the climate system.