Links between tropical rainfall and North Atlantic climate during the last glacial period

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Deplazes, Gaudenz, Lückge, Andreas, Peterson, Larry, Timmermann, Axel, Hamann, Yvonne, Hughen, Konrad, Röhl, Ursula, Laj, Carlo, Cane, Mark, Sigman, Daniel, Haug, Gerald
• Other Authors: Department of Earth Sciences Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zürich (D-ERDW), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), University of Miami Coral Gables, International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawai‘i Mānoa (UHM)-University of Hawai‘i Mānoa (UHM), Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry (WHOI), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Center for Marine Environmental Sciences Bremen (MARUM), Universität Bremen, 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), Climat et Magnétisme (CLIMAG), 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)), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University New York, Department of Geosciences Princeton, Princeton University, DFG-Leibniz Center for Earth Surface Processes and Climate Studies, University of Potsdam = Universität Potsdam
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03207502; https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1712

International audience During the last glacial period, the North Atlantic regionexperienced pronounced, millennial-scale alternations between cold, stadial conditions and milder interstadialconditions—commonly referred to as Dansgaard–Oeschgeroscillations—as well as periods of massive iceberg dischargeknown as Heinrich events1. Changes in Northern Hemispheretemperature, as recorded in Greenland2–4, are thought to haveaffected the location of the Atlantic intertropical convergencezone5,6 and the strength of the Indian summer monsoon7,8.Here we use high-resolution records of sediment colour—ameasure of terrigenous versus biogenic content—from theCariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela and the ArabianSea to assess teleconnections with the North Atlantic climatesystem during the last glacial period. The Cariaco recordindicates that the intertropical convergence zone migratedseasonally over the site during mild stadial conditions, but waspermanently displaced south of the basin during peak stadialsand Heinrich events. In the Arabian Sea, we find evidence ofa weak Indian summer monsoon during the stadial events.The tropical records show a more variable response to NorthAtlantic cooling than the Greenland temperature records. Wetherefore suggest that Greenland climate is especially sensitiveto variations in the North Atlantic system—in particular sea-iceextent—whereas the intertropical convergence zone and Indianmonsoon system respond primarily to variations in meanNorthern Hemisphere temperature.