Global climate evolution during the last deglaciation

Deciphering the evolution of global climate from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 19 ka to the early Holocene 11 ka presents an outstanding opportunity for understanding the transient response of Earth's climate system to external and internal forcings. During this interval of...

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Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Clark, Peter U., Shakun, Jeremy D., Baker, Paul A., Bartlein, Patrick J., Brewer, Simon, Brook, Ed, Carlson, Anders E., Cheng, Hai, Kaufman, Darrell S., Liu, Zhengyu, Marchitto, Thomas M., Mix, Alan C., Morrill, Carrie, Otto-Bliesner, Bette L., Pahnke, Katharina, Russell, James M., Whitlock, Cathy, Adkins, Jess F., Blois, Jessica L., Clark, Jorie, Colman, Steven M., Curry, William B., Flower, Ben P., He, Feng, Johnson, Thomas C., Lynch-Stieglitz, Jean, Markgraf, Vera, McManus, Jerry, Mitrovica, Jerry X., Moreno, Patricio I., Williams, J
Other Authors: Clark, PU (reprint author), Oregon State Univ, Coll Earth Ocean & Atmospher Sci, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA., Oregon State Univ, Coll Earth Ocean & Atmospher Sci, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA., Harvard Univ, Dept Earth & Planetary Sci, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA., Duke Univ, Div Earth & Ocean Sci, Durham, NC 27708 USA., Univ Oregon, Dept Geog, Eugene, OR 97403 USA., Univ Utah, Dept Geog, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA., Univ Wisconsin, Dept Geosci, Madison, WI 53706 USA., Univ Wisconsin, Ctr Climat Res, Madison, WI 53706 USA., Xi An Jiao Tong Univ, Inst Global Environm Change, Xian 710049, Peoples R China., Univ Minnesota, Dept Geol & Geophys, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA., No Arizona Univ, Sch Earth Sci & Environm Sustainabil, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 USA., Peking Univ, Lab Ocean Atmosphere Studies, Sch Phys, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Univ Colorado, Inst Arctic & Alpine Res, Boulder, CO 80309 USA., NOAA, Natl Climat Data Ctr, Boulder, CO 80305 USA., Natl Ctr Atmospher Res, Climate & Global Dynam Div, Boulder, CO 80307 USA., Univ Hawaii, Dept Geol & Geophys, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA., Brown Univ, Dept Geol Sci, Providence, RI 02912 USA., Montana State Univ, Dept Earth Sci, Bozeman, MT USA., CALTECH, Div Geol & Planetary Sci, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA., Univ Wisconsin, Dept Geog, Madison, WI 53706 USA., Univ Minnesota, Large Lakes Observ, Duluth, MN 55812 USA., Univ Minnesota, Dept Geol Sci, Duluth, MN 55812 USA., Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Dept Geol & Geophys, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA., Univ S Florida, Coll Marine Sci, St Petersburg, FL 33701 USA., Georgia Inst Technol, Sch Earth & Atmospher Sci, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA., Lamont Doherty Earth Observ, Palisades, NY 10964 USA., Univ Chile, Inst Ecol & Biodivers, Santiago 1058, Chile., Univ Chile, Dept Ecol Sci, Santiago 1058, Chile.
Format: Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/393417
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1116619109
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Summary:Deciphering the evolution of global climate from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 19 ka to the early Holocene 11 ka presents an outstanding opportunity for understanding the transient response of Earth's climate system to external and internal forcings. During this interval of global warming, the decay of ice sheets caused global mean sea level to rise by approximately 80 m; terrestrial and marine ecosystems experienced large disturbances and range shifts; perturbations to the carbon cycle resulted in a net release of the greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere; and changes in atmosphere and ocean circulation affected the global distribution and fluxes of water and heat. Here we summarize a major effort by the paleoclimate research community to characterize these changes through the development of well-dated, high-resolution records of the deep and intermediate ocean as well as surface climate. Our synthesis indicates that the super-position of two modes explains much of the variability in regional and global climate during the last deglaciation, with a strong association between the first mode and variations in greenhouse gases, and between the second mode and variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Multidisciplinary Sciences SCI(E) 0 ARTICLE 19 E1134-E1142 109