Past perspectives on the present era of abrupt Arctic climate change

Eystein Jansen*, Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, Trond Dokken, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Bo M. Vinther, Emilie Capron, Chuncheng Guo, Mari F. Jensen, Peter L. Langen, Rasmus A. Pedersen, Shuting Yang, Mats Bentsen, Helle A. Kjær, Henrik Sadatzki, Evangeline Sessford, Martin Stendel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Abrupt climate change is a striking feature of many climate records, particularly the warming events in Greenland ice cores. These abrupt and high-amplitude events were tightly coupled to rapid sea-ice retreat in the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas, and observational evidence shows they had global repercussions. In the present-day Arctic, sea-ice loss is also key to ongoing warming. This Perspective uses observations and climate models to place contemporary Arctic change into the context of past abrupt Greenland warmings. We find that warming rates similar to or higher than modern trends have only occurred during past abrupt glacial episodes. We argue that the Arctic is currently experiencing an abrupt climate change event, and that climate models underestimate this ongoing warming.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature climate change
Volume10
Issue number8
Pages (from-to)714-721
Number of pages8
ISSN1758-678X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2020

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