Glacial to Holocene climate variability in the southern mid latitudes ...

• Main Authors: Piatrunia, Natallia, 0000-0002-5341-7964
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Texas at Austin 2022
• Subjects: Southern Hemisphere westerly winds; Isotope composition; Branched GDGTs; Glacial; Holocene; Paleoclimate; New Zealand; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/45137; https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/118258

The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds play an important role in global climate, by influencing the weather in the mid latitudes, transmitting climate changes between high and low latitudes, and have been proposed to influence the carbon storage in the Southern Ocean. Changes in the position and intensity of the westerlies are anticipated to have a large impact in the future and have also been proposed to play significant role in past climate changes. Paleoclimate proxy records of past variation in the westerlies, however, are controversial, and models suggest that they may depend on a complex interplay between high and low latitude drivers as well as factors such as the mean state of the climate system. This dissertation seeks to improve our understanding of the Southern Hemisphere westerly wind and climate variations. To do so, I generate a 45,000-year record of Southern Hemisphere westerly wind and temperature variability on the North Island of New Zealand using compound-specific hydrogen isotope in ...