Enhanced climate instability in the North Atlantic and southern Europe during the Last Interglacial
Considerable ambiguity remains over the extent and nature of millennial/centennial-scale climate instability during the Last Interglacial (LIG). Here we analyse marine and terrestrial proxies from a deep-sea sediment sequence on the Portuguese Margin and combine results with an intensively dated Ita...
Published in: | Nature Communications |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2018
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/dfb146bc-6697-4136-9fb8-1fdf51656baf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06683-3 https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/files/100934227/Publisher_version_open_access_.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054895563&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160102969 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE150100107 |
Summary: | Considerable ambiguity remains over the extent and nature of millennial/centennial-scale climate instability during the Last Interglacial (LIG). Here we analyse marine and terrestrial proxies from a deep-sea sediment sequence on the Portuguese Margin and combine results with an intensively dated Italian speleothem record and climate-model experiments. The strongest expression of climate variability occurred during the transitions into and out of the LIG. Our records also document a series of multi-centennial intra-interglacial arid events in southern Europe, coherent with cold water-mass expansions in the North Atlantic. The spatial and temporal fingerprints of these changes indicate a reorganization of ocean surface circulation, consistent with low-intensity disruptions of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The amplitude of this LIG variability is greater than that observed in Holocene records. Episodic Greenland ice melt and runoff as a result of excess warmth may have contributed to AMOC weakening and increased climate instability throughout the LIG. |
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