Interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation

International audience The asynchronous relationship between millennial-scale temperature changes over Greenland and Antarctica during the last glacial period has led to the notion of a bipolar seesaw which acts to redistribute heat depending on the state of meridional overturning circulation within...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature
Main Authors: Barker, Stephen, Diz, Paula, Vautravers, Maryline, Pike, Jennifer, Knorr, Gregor, Hall, Ian, Broecker, Wallace
Other Authors: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences Cardiff, Cardiff University, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique - Angers (LPG-ANGERS), Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG), Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2009
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Online Access:https://hal.univ-angers.fr/hal-03277978
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07770
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Summary:International audience The asynchronous relationship between millennial-scale temperature changes over Greenland and Antarctica during the last glacial period has led to the notion of a bipolar seesaw which acts to redistribute heat depending on the state of meridional overturning circulation within the Atlantic Ocean. Here we present new records from the South Atlantic that show rapid changes during the last deglaciation that were instantaneous (within dating uncertainty) and of opposite sign to those observed in the North Atlantic. Our results demonstrate a direct link between the abrupt changes associated with variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and the more gradual adjustments characteristic of the Southern Ocean. These results emphasize the importance of the Southern Ocean for the development and transmission of millennial-scale climate variability and highlight its role in deglacial climate change and the associated rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.