Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change
Late-twentieth century changes in the intensity and migration of Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have been implicated in spatially complex variability in atmospheric and ocean circulation, and ice-sheet dynamics, across the mid- to high-latitudes. A major uncertainty, however, is whether present...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:476049 2023-07-30T04:04:13+02:00 Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change Turney, C. S.M. Wilmshurst, J. M. Jones, R. T. Wood, J. R. Palmer, J. G. Hogg, A. G. Fenwick, P. Crowley, S. F. Privat, K. Thomas, Z. 2017-03-01 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/476049/ English eng Turney, C. S.M., Wilmshurst, J. M., Jones, R. T. and Thomas, Z. , et al. (2017) Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews, 159 (3), 77-87. (doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017>). Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017 2023-07-09T22:59:13Z Late-twentieth century changes in the intensity and migration of Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have been implicated in spatially complex variability in atmospheric and ocean circulation, and ice-sheet dynamics, across the mid- to high-latitudes. A major uncertainty, however, is whether present day hemispheric-wide symmetrical airflow is representative of past behaviour. Here we report a multi-proxy study from Stewart Island and southern Fiordland, New Zealand (46–47°S) reconstructing Holocene changes at the northern limit of westerly airflow. Increased minerogenic input and a pronounced shift in cool-loving vegetation around 5500 years ago is consistent with the establishment of westerly airflow at this latitude in the southwest Pacific. In marked contrast, stronger winds are reported further south over the subantarctic Auckland (50°S) and Campbell (52°S) Islands from 8000 years ago. Intriguingly, reconstructions from the east Pacific suggest a weakening of core westerly airflow after 8500 years ago, but an expansion along the northern limits sometime after 5500 years ago. Our results suggest similar atmospheric circulation changes have been experienced in the Pacific since 5500 years ago, but indicate an expanded network of sites is needed to comprehensively test the driver(s) and impact(s) of Holocene mid-latitude westerly winds across the Southern Hemisphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton New Zealand Pacific Quaternary Science Reviews 159 77 87 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Late-twentieth century changes in the intensity and migration of Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have been implicated in spatially complex variability in atmospheric and ocean circulation, and ice-sheet dynamics, across the mid- to high-latitudes. A major uncertainty, however, is whether present day hemispheric-wide symmetrical airflow is representative of past behaviour. Here we report a multi-proxy study from Stewart Island and southern Fiordland, New Zealand (46–47°S) reconstructing Holocene changes at the northern limit of westerly airflow. Increased minerogenic input and a pronounced shift in cool-loving vegetation around 5500 years ago is consistent with the establishment of westerly airflow at this latitude in the southwest Pacific. In marked contrast, stronger winds are reported further south over the subantarctic Auckland (50°S) and Campbell (52°S) Islands from 8000 years ago. Intriguingly, reconstructions from the east Pacific suggest a weakening of core westerly airflow after 8500 years ago, but an expansion along the northern limits sometime after 5500 years ago. Our results suggest similar atmospheric circulation changes have been experienced in the Pacific since 5500 years ago, but indicate an expanded network of sites is needed to comprehensively test the driver(s) and impact(s) of Holocene mid-latitude westerly winds across the Southern Hemisphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Turney, C. S.M. Wilmshurst, J. M. Jones, R. T. Wood, J. R. Palmer, J. G. Hogg, A. G. Fenwick, P. Crowley, S. F. Privat, K. Thomas, Z. |
spellingShingle |
Turney, C. S.M. Wilmshurst, J. M. Jones, R. T. Wood, J. R. Palmer, J. G. Hogg, A. G. Fenwick, P. Crowley, S. F. Privat, K. Thomas, Z. Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
author_facet |
Turney, C. S.M. Wilmshurst, J. M. Jones, R. T. Wood, J. R. Palmer, J. G. Hogg, A. G. Fenwick, P. Crowley, S. F. Privat, K. Thomas, Z. |
author_sort |
Turney, C. S.M. |
title |
Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
title_short |
Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
title_full |
Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
title_fullStr |
Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change |
title_sort |
reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern new zealand: establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for southern hemisphere holocene climate change |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/476049/ |
geographic |
New Zealand Pacific |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand Pacific |
genre |
Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
Turney, C. S.M., Wilmshurst, J. M., Jones, R. T. and Thomas, Z. , et al. (2017) Reconstructing atmospheric circulation over southern New Zealand: Establishment of modern westerly airflow 5500 years ago and implications for Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews, 159 (3), 77-87. (doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.017 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
159 |
container_start_page |
77 |
op_container_end_page |
87 |
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1772815486685282304 |