Mid-Pleistocene climate transition triggered by Antarctic Ice Sheet growth

Despite extensive investigation, the nature and causes of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition remain enigmatic. In this work, we assess its linkage to asynchronous development of bipolar ice sheets by synthesizing Pleistocene mid- to high-latitude proxy records linked to hemispheric ice sheet evolution....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: An, Zhisheng, Zhou, Weijian, Zhang, Zeke, Zhang, Xu, Liu, Zhonghui, Sun, Youbin, Clemens, Steven C, Wu, Lixin, Zhao, Jiaju, Shi, Zhengguo, Ma, Xiaolin, Yan, Hong, Li, Gaojun, Cai, Yanjun, Yu, Jimin, Sun, Yuchen, Li, Siqi, Zhang, Yu’ao, Stepanek, Christian, Lohmann, Gerrit, Dong, Guocheng, Cheng, Hai, Liu, Yu, Jin, Zhangdong, Li, Tao, Hao, Yifei, Lei, Jing, Cai, Wenju
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2024
Subjects:
Antarc*
Antarctic
Ice Sheet
Sea ice
Southern Ocean
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58942/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58942/1/abn4861_accepted.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn4861
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.82b28d45-e474-46a8-bd07-b7919701383a
Description
Summary:Despite extensive investigation, the nature and causes of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition remain enigmatic. In this work, we assess its linkage to asynchronous development of bipolar ice sheets by synthesizing Pleistocene mid- to high-latitude proxy records linked to hemispheric ice sheet evolution. Our results indicate substantial growth of the Antarctic Ice Sheets (AISs) at 2.0 to 1.25 million years ago, preceding the rapid expansion of Northern Hemisphere Ice Sheets after ~1.25 million years ago. Proxy-model comparisons suggest that AIS and associated Southern Ocean sea ice expansion can induce northern high-latitude cooling and enhanced moisture transport to the Northern Hemisphere, thus triggering the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. The dynamic processes involved are crucial for assessing modern global warming that is already inducing asynchronous bipolar melting of ice sheets.

Similar Items