One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Barbante, C., Barnola, Jean-Marc, Becagli, Silvia, Beer, J., Bigler, M., Boutron, Claude, Blunier, T., Castellano, E., Cattani, O., Chappellaz, Jérome, Dahl-Jensen, D., Debret, Maxime, Delmonte, Barbara, Dick, D., Falourd, S., Faria, S., Federer, U., Fischer, Hubertus, Freitag, J., Frenzel, A., Fritzsche, D., Fundel, F., Gabrielli, Paolo, Gaspari, V., Gersonde, R., Graf, W., Grigoriev, D., Hamann, I., Hansson, M., Hoffmann, G., Hutterli, M. A., Huybrechts, P., Isaksson, E., Johnsen, S., Jouzel, Jean, Kaczmarska, M., Karlin, T., Kaufmann, P., Kipfstuhl, S., Kohno, M., Lambert, F., Lambrecht, Anja, Lambrecht, Astrid, Landais, A., Lawer, G., Leuenberger, M., Littot, G., Loulergue, L., Lüthi, D., Maggi, V.
• Other Authors: Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes-CNR, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Ca’ Foscari Venice, Italy, Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen (NBI), Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence Firenze (UNIFI), Swiss Federal Insitute of Aquatic Science and Technology Dübendorf (EAWAG), Climate and Environmental Physics Bern (CEP), Physikalisches Institut Bern, Universität Bern Bern -Universität Bern Bern, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca Milano (UNIMIB), Department of Bentho-pelagic processes, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), Forschungszentrum fur Umwelt und Gesundheit (GSF), Helmholtz-Zentrum München (HZM), University College of London London (UCL), Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Departement Geografie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Norwegian Polar Institute, Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development Frascati (ENEA), Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University Utrecht, Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse (CSNSM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11), Department of Geological, Environmental and Marine Sciences Trieste, Università degli studi di Trieste, Département des Sciences de la Terre, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Institute of Environmental Physics Heidelberg (IUP), Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2006
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Antarctic; Dronning Maud Land; Greenland; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Dansgaard-Oeschger events; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00375263; https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05301

International audience Precise knowledge of the phase relationship between climate changes in the two hemispheres is a key for understanding the Earth's climate dynamics. For the last glacial period, ice core studies1, 2 have revealed strong coupling of the largest millennial-scale warm events in Antarctica with the longest Dansgaard–Oeschger events in Greenland3, 4, 5 through the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation6, 7, 8. It has been unclear, however, whether the shorter Dansgaard–Oeschger events have counterparts in the shorter and less prominent Antarctic temperature variations, and whether these events are linked by the same mechanism. Here we present a glacial climate record derived from an ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, which represents South Atlantic climate at a resolution comparable with the Greenland ice core records. After methane synchronization with an ice core from North Greenland9, the oxygen isotope record from the Dronning Maud Land ice core shows a one-to-one coupling between all Antarctic warm events and Greenland Dansgaard–Oeschger events by the bipolar seesaw6. The amplitude of the Antarctic warm events is found to be linearly dependent on the duration of the concurrent stadial in the North, suggesting that they all result from a similar reduction in the meridional overturning circulation.