The Taylor Dome Antarctic 18 O Record and Globally Synchronous Changes in Climate

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Grootes, Pieter M., Steig, Eric J., Stuiver, Minze, Waddington, Edwin D., Morse, David L., Nadeau, Marie-Josée
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2001
• Subjects: Antarctic; Byrd; Byrd Station; Greenland; Taylor Dome; Antarc*; Antarctica; GRIP; ice core; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2276; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922768?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922768?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400010322

Abstract The 18 O/ 16 O profile of a 554-m long ice core through Taylor Dome, Antarctica, shows the climate variability of the last glacial–interglacial cycle in detail and extends at least another full cycle. Taylor Dome shares the main features of the Vostok record, including the early climatic optimum with later cool phase of the last interglacial period in Antarctica. Taylor Dome δ 18 O fluctuations are more abrupt and larger than those at Vostok and Byrd Station, although still less pronounced than those of the Greenland GISP2 and GRIP records. The influence of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation on regional ocean heat transport explains the partly “North Atlantic” character of this Antarctic record. Under full glacial climate (marine isotope stage 4, late stage 3, and stage 2), this marine influence diminished and Taylor Dome became more like Vostok. Varying degrees of marine influence produce climate heterogeneity within Antarctica, which may account for conflicting evidence regarding the relative phasing of Northern and Southern Hemisphere climate change.