Abrupt cold events in the North Atlantic in a transient Holocene simulation

Abrupt cold events have been detected in numerous North Atlantic climate records from the Holocene. Several mechanisms have been discussed as possible triggers for these climate shifts persisting decades to centuries. Here, we describe two cold events that occurred during an orbitally forced transient Holocene simulation using the Community Climate System Model version 3. Both events occurred during the late Holocene (event 1 referring to 4305–4267 BP and event 2 referring to 3046–3018 BP) and were characterized by substantial surface cooling (−2.7 and −2.2 °C, respectively) and freshening (−0.7 and −0.6 PSU, respectively) as well as severe sea ice advance east of Newfoundland and south of Greenland. Sea ice even reached the Iceland Basin in the northeastern Atlantic at the climaxes of the cold events. Convection and deep-water formation in the northwestern Atlantic collapsed during the events, while the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation was not significantly affected. The events were triggered by prolonged phases of a positive North Atlantic Oscillation which, through changes in surface winds, caused substantial changes in the sub-polar ocean circulation and associated freshwater transports, resulting in a weakening of the sub-polar gyre. Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which abrupt cold events in the North Atlantic region may be triggered by internal climate variability without the need of an external (e.g. solar or volcanic) forcing.