Rapid global ocean-atmosphere response to Southern Ocean freshening during the last glacial

Contrasting Greenland and Antarctic temperatures during the last glacial period (115,000 to 11,650 years ago) are thought to have been driven by imbalances in the rates of formation of North Atlantic and Antarctic Deep Water (the 'bipolar seesaw'). Here we exploit a bidecadally resolved 14...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Turney, Chris S.M., Jones, Richard T., Phipps, Steven J., Thomas, Zoë, Hogg, Alan, Kershaw, A. Peter, Fogwill, Christopher J., Palmer, Jonathan, Bronk Ramsey, Christopher, Adolphi, Florian, Muscheler, Raimund, Hughen, Konrad A., Staff, Richard A., Grosvenor, Mark, Golledge, Nicholas R., Rasmussen, Sune Olander, Hutchinson, David K., Haberle, Simon, Lorrey, Andrew, Boswijk, Gretel, Cooper, Alan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Palaeoceanography
Palaeoclimate
Antarctic
Greenland
New Zealand
Pacific
Southern Ocean
Antarc*
Iceberg*
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/a2fe74eb-de5d-47e8-9e0d-90368a68fce8
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00577-6
https://researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/files/227627969/226543244_oa.pdf
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029301605&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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Summary:Contrasting Greenland and Antarctic temperatures during the last glacial period (115,000 to 11,650 years ago) are thought to have been driven by imbalances in the rates of formation of North Atlantic and Antarctic Deep Water (the 'bipolar seesaw'). Here we exploit a bidecadally resolved 14 C data set obtained from New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis) to undertake high-precision alignment of key climate data sets spanning iceberg-rafted debris event Heinrich 3 and Greenland Interstadial (GI) 5.1 in the North Atlantic (~30,400 to 28,400 years ago). We observe no divergence between the kauri and Atlantic marine sediment 14 C data sets, implying limited changes in deep water formation. However, a Southern Ocean (Atlantic-sector) iceberg rafted debris event appears to have occurred synchronously with GI-5.1 warming and decreased precipitation over the western equatorial Pacific and Atlantic. An ensemble of transient meltwater simulations shows that Antarctic-sourced salinity anomalies can generate climate changes that are propagated globally via an atmospheric Rossby wave train.

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