No detectable Weddell Sea Antarctic Bottom Water export during the Last and Penultimate Glacial Maximum

Weddell Sea-derived Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is one of the most important deep water masses in the Southern Hemisphere occupying large portions of the deep Southern Ocean (SO) today. While substantial changes in SO-overturning circulation were previously suggested, the state of Weddell Sea AABW...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Huang, Huang, Gutjahr, Marcus, Eisenhauer, Anton, Kuhn, Gerhard
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Antarctic
Southern Ocean
Weddell Sea
Weddell
Antarc*
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/51011/
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14302-3
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.988753a4-86ae-425e-af25-5a60632c5ace
Description
Summary:Weddell Sea-derived Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is one of the most important deep water masses in the Southern Hemisphere occupying large portions of the deep Southern Ocean (SO) today. While substantial changes in SO-overturning circulation were previously suggested, the state of Weddell Sea AABW export during glacial climates remains poorly understood. Here we report seawater-derived Nd and Pb isotope records that provide evidence for the absence of Weddell Sea-derived AABW in the Atlantic sector of the SO during the last two glacial maxima. Increasing delivery of Antarctic Pb to regions outside the Weddell Sea traced SO frontal displacements during both glacial terminations. The export of Weddell Sea-derived AABW resumed late during glacial terminations, coinciding with the last major atmospheric CO2 rise in the transition to the Holocene and the Eemian. Our new records lend strong support for a previously inferred AABW overturning stagnation event during the peak Eemian interglacial.

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