Abrupt Pleistocene transitions in deep ocean drilling records west and south of Greenland

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) plays a key role in the global climate system by acting as an interglacial refrigerator closely coupled to North Atlantic ocean circulation. Global warming is presently forcing the GrIS to lose mass with at least 27 cm of sea level rise committed regardless of future climate pathways. Greenland’s total ice mass corresponds to ~7 m of sea level, and recent paleo-data indicates that at least 1.4 m of ice loss occurred during Marine Oxygen Isotope stage 11 around 420.000 years ago. Thus, it is crucial to inform Earth System Models on past GrIS dynamics, in particular when and how fast major reductions in ice volume occurred. Part of the task for P2F WP9 is to apply information from deep ocean drilling records to identify the response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to warm climate extremes. With focus on the Pleistocene “super-interglacials” and abrupt transitions, this presentation compares various proxy-data from deep drilling sites west (IODP400 Baffin Bay) and south (IODP303 Labrador Sea) of Greenland which are influenced by the warm North Atlantic surface waters.