Deglacial patterns of South Pacific overturning inferred from 231Pa and 230Th

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Ronge, Thomas A., Lippold, Jörg, Geibert, Walter, Jaccard, Samuel L., Mieruch-Schnülle, Sebastian, Süfke, Finn, Tiedemann, Ralf
• Other Authors: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2021
• Subjects: Multidisciplinary; Pacific; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00111-1; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00111-1.pdf; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00111-1

Abstract The millennial-scale variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is well documented for the last glacial termination and beyond. Despite its importance for the climate system, the evolution of the South Pacific overturning circulation (SPOC) is by far less well understood. A recently published study highlights the potential applicability of the 231 Pa/ 230 Th-proxy in the Pacific. Here, we present five sedimentary down-core profiles of 231 Pa/ 230 Th-ratios measured on a depth transect from the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean to test this hypothesis using downcore records. Our data are consistent with an increase in SPOC as early as 20 ka that peaked during Heinrich Stadial 1. The timing indicates that the SPOC did not simply react to AMOC changes via the bipolar seesaw but were triggered via Southern Hemisphere processes.