Ice-age variability from the Vostok deuterium and deuterium excess records

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Main Authors: Yiou, Pascal, Vimeux, F., Jouzel, J.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), 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)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Extrèmes : Statistiques, Impacts et Régionalisation (ESTIMR), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-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)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2001
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; ice core
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03106987; https://hal.science/hal-03106987/document; https://hal.science/hal-03106987/file/2001JD900147.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD900147

International audience The four climatic cycles obtained from the Vostok ice core offer a unique opportunity to study the high-frequency paleoclimatic variability, i.e., on time scales smaller than 15 kyr. We focused our study on the deuterium (5D) and deuterium excess (d) records, which are proxies for local temperature and remote evaporation source temperature and hence give us access to spatial climatic variations. Spectral analyses of paleoclimatic records have shown that the last glacial period (110-15 kyr before present) is characterized by large and fast temperature oscillations. Examples of such variations in the Northern Hemisphere are the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations and Heinrich events. At Vostok, these oscillations are also imprinted in the ice, with broadband periodicities between 5 and 8 kyr and between 1.4 and 1.8 kyr. Scenarios for this behavior have recently been developed and argued, as well as connections with the Northern Hemisphere. We now can investigate the stability of the fast spectral features in the previous ice ages recovered in the Vostok isotopic records. This allows us to document the different types of climatic behavior under glacial conditions and hence connect the fast variation statistics with the slower ones controlled by insolation and sea level change. Our results show that 5D and d do have a distinct spectral behavior. We discuss the implications on the ocean circulation from such a difference.