The present temperature regime of the Norwegian and Greenland Seas results largely from the warm Norwegian Current. This current is partially responsible for the maritime climates of northern Europe and Scandinavia, and it controls the distribution of planktonic Foraminifera and the extent of sea-ice cover in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas.Analyses of 6 piston cores show that Norwegian Sea temperatures during most of the past 150,000 yr have been much lower than they are now. Only between 127,000 and 110,000 B.P. did temperatures approach or surpass present-day temperatures. For the remaining time, foraminiferal faunas were similar to or even less diverse than those of today in the northern Greenland Sea, where ice cover is present in winter. This suggests that during most of the last 150,000 yr, ice covered all of the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, probably on a year-around basis. As a result, northern Europe and Scandinavia did not receive air warmed by the Norwegian Current as they do now. Additionally, the presence of total sea-ice cover prevented the formation of Norwegian Sea overflow water, thus altering the deep circulation of the Atlantic.

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BOREAS Kellogg, T. B., Duplessy, J. C. & Shackleton, N. J. 1978 03 01: Planktonic foraminiferal and oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of Norwegian Sea deep‐sea cores. Boreas. Vol. 7, pp. 61–73. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483. Three Norwegian Sea deep‐sea cores, which penetrate to sediments at least 200,000 years old, were analyzed for oxygen isotope content, total calcium carbonate, and planktonic foraminifera. The oxygen isotopic stratigraphy was used to refine the time control for paleoclimatic and paleo‐oceanographic events previously described for the region. Two pulses of relatively warm subpolar water entered the region between 124,000 B.P. and 115,000 B.P. (the last interglacial), and since about 13,000 B.P. The remaining portion of the last 150,000 years was characterized by extensive ice cover. The magnitude of the change in isotopic composition between peak glacial and peak interglacial conditions is larger than can be explained by the changing isotopic content of the oceans alone suggesting that large temperature and salinity effects are recorded in isotope curves from Norwegian Sea isotope curves. The magnitude of the isotopic change from substage 5e to 5d (greater than 1%) is attributed to a combination of changing oceanic isotopic composition combined with a large temperature effect due to a sudden sea‐surface temperature decrease of about 6oC. The persistence of heavy isotope values throughout substages 5d through 5a may be related to the sea‐ice cover which prevented dilution of the isotopically heavy waters by isotopically light run‐off. Sedimentation rates calculated for each of the isotope stages show large changes from one stage to another with some tendency for odd numbered stages to have higher rates.

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