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A minimum thermodynamic model for the bipolar seesaw
Article first published online: 26 NOV 2003
DOI: 10.1029/2003PA000920
Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.
1944-9186/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=0ed6ba36ed17e0ac1fc75a822ae723f78ab98899 "Paleoceanography")
Additional Information
How to Cite
, and (2003), A minimum thermodynamic model for the bipolar seesaw, Paleoceanography, 18, 1087, doi:10.1029/2003PA000920, 4.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 26 NOV 2003
- Article first published online: 26 NOV 2003
- Manuscript Accepted: 24 SEP 2003
- Manuscript Revised: 11 AUG 2003
- Manuscript Received: 5 MAY 2003
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- bipolar seesaw;
- synchronization of Antarctic and Greenland ice cores;
- Dansgaard-Oeschger events;
- north-south connection
[1] The simplest possible model is proposed to explain a large fraction of the millennial climate variability measured in the isotopic composition of Antarctic ice cores. The model results from the classic bipolar seesaw by coupling it to a heat reservoir. In this “thermal bipolar seesaw” the heat reservoir convolves northern time signals with a characteristic timescale. Applying the model to the data of GRIP and Byrd, we demonstrate that maximum correlation can be obtained using a timescale of about 1000–1500 years. Higher correlations are obtained by first filtering out the long-term variability which is due to astronomical and greenhouse gas forcing and not part of the thermal bipolar seesaw. The model resolves the apparent confusion whether northern and southern climate records are in or out of phase, synchronous, or time lagged.