Central Mediterranean rainfall varied with high northern latitude temperatures during the last deglaciation

• Published in: Communications Earth & Environment
• Main Authors: Columbu, Andrea, Spötl, Christoph, Fohlmeister, Jens, Hu, Hsun-Ming, Chiarini, Veronica, Hellstrom, John, Cheng, Hai, Shen, Chuan-Chou, De Waele, Jo
• Other Authors: Fohlmeister, Jen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: speleothem; palaeoclimate record; meditterranean; geochemistry; petrography; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/892669; https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00509-3; https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00509-3

Similarly to the effects of current climate change, the last deglaciation (Termination I) rapidly altered northern latitude temperatures and ice-sheet extent, as well as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. However, it is still unclear how these changes propagated and impacted the central Mediterranean continental rainfall variability. This prevents a full understanding on how global warming will affect Mediterranean areas in the future. Here, we present a high-resolution reconstruction of rainfall changes in the central Mediterranean across Termination I, based on a novel δ18O time series from a southern Italian stalagmite. Across Termination I the availability of Atlantic moisture varied in response to northern latitude temperature increases (decreases) and ice-sheet decreases (increases), promoting a higher (lower) intensity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and resulting in a relatively wetter (drier) climate in the Mediterranean. In the light of future warming, this study emphasises the role of high-latitude climate changes in causing rainfall variation in highly populated Mediterranean areas.