Variations of oceanic oxygen isotopes at the present day and the LGM: equilibrium simulations with an oceanic general circulation model

Abstract. The isotope-enabled oceanic general circulation model, MPI-OM, is used to simulate the oxygen isotope compositions of sea waters in the oceans under preindustrial and last glacial maximum climate conditions. Simulated oceanic isotope distributions at the last glacial maximum (21 000 yr ago) show features similar to the preindustrial in most basins but the Northern North Atlantic. With the exception of the ice sheet impact, the oxygen-18 content variations at sea surface during the last glacial maximum are mainly controlled by the changes in boundary isotopic fluxes in most regions, while the changes from subsurface to bottom waters are mostly due to the differences in the water mass circulations. The changes in topography at the northern high latitudes have a remarkable influence on the isotopic composition in the Arctic Ocean. The pre-industrial and the last glacial maximum calcite oxygen isotope compositions in the surface water and their difference are also calculated. These results are compared with the observed values from different foraminifera species and are in agreement with the observations in most regions.