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 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Nature
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/ http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/1/s41467-018-06683-3.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/2/41467_2018_6683_MOESM1_ESM.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/3/41467_2018_6683_MOESM2_ESM.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/4/41467_2018_6683_MOESM3_ESM.xlsx http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/5/41467_2018_6683_MOESM4_ESM.xlsx http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/6/41467_2018_6683_MOESM5_ESM.xlsx http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/4349/7/41467_2018_6683_MOESM6_ESM.xlsx https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06683-3 |
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. |
---|