Enhanced climate instability in the North Atlantic and southern Europe during the Last Interglacial

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Tzedakis, P., Drysdale, R., Margari, V., Skinner, L., Menviel, L., Rhodes, R., Taschetto, A., Hodell, A., Crowhurst, S., Hellstrom, J., Fallick, A., Grimalt, J., Mcmanus, J., Martrat, B., Mokeddem, Z., Parrenin, F., Regattieri, E., Roe, K., Zanchetta, G.
• Other Authors: University of Melbourne, Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne (EDYTEM), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Est (UPE), University of Cambridge, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), University of Glasgow-University of Edinburgh (Edin.), Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (LGO), Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Pisa - Università di Pisa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: OCEAN CIRCULATION; SURFACE-TEMPERATURE; ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY; DEEP-WATER; GREENLAND ICE-SHEET; SEA-LEVEL; STALAGMITE EVIDENCE; TERMINATION-II; GLACIAL MAXIMUM; IBERIAN MARGIN; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society; [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02007181; https://hal.science/hal-02007181/document; https://hal.science/hal-02007181/file/s41467-018-06683-3.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06683-3

International audience 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.