Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, ~500 ky ago, represents a Quaternary interglacial of primary interest due to the unexpected enhancement of monsoon systems under a cool climate characterised by low atmospheric CO2 and larger ice volume than the present interglacial. Yet, key questions remain about its...
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ftunivlouvain:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:257612 2024-05-19T07:42:09+00:00 Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial Oliveira, Dulce Desprat, Stéphanie Yin, Qiuzhen UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate 2021 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257612 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 eng eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FRS-FNRS/MIS/QuantLoess boreal:257612 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257612 doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject 2021 ftunivlouvain https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 2024-04-24T01:07:07Z Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, ~500 ky ago, represents a Quaternary interglacial of primary interest due to the unexpected enhancement of monsoon systems under a cool climate characterised by low atmospheric CO2 and larger ice volume than the present interglacial. Yet, key questions remain about its regional expression (intensity, climate variability, length) and underlying forcing factors. Here we examine the SW Iberian vegetation and terrestrial climate during MIS 13 directly compared with the sea surface temperatures using sediments from IODP Site U1385, and combine those terrestrial-marine profiles with climate-model experiments. We show for the first time that MIS 13 stands out for its large forest expansions with a reduced Mediterranean character alternating with muted forest contractions, indicating that this stage is marked by a cool-temperate climate regime with high levels of humidity. Results of our data-model approach reveal that that the dominant effect of MIS 13 insolation forcing on the regional vegetation and precipitation regime in SW Iberia is amplified by the relatively large extent of the ice-sheets in high northern latitudes. In qualitative agreement with the pollen-based evidence, model results show that ice-sheet forcing triggers an increase in the SW Iberian tree fraction along with both intensified winter and summer rainfall. We propose that the interactions between ice-sheets and major atmospheric circulation systems may have resulted in the persistent influence of the mid-latitude cells over the SW Iberian region, which led to intensified moisture availability and reduced seasonality, and, in turn, to a pronounced expansion of the temperate forest. Conference Object Ice Sheet DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlouvain |
language |
English |
description |
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, ~500 ky ago, represents a Quaternary interglacial of primary interest due to the unexpected enhancement of monsoon systems under a cool climate characterised by low atmospheric CO2 and larger ice volume than the present interglacial. Yet, key questions remain about its regional expression (intensity, climate variability, length) and underlying forcing factors. Here we examine the SW Iberian vegetation and terrestrial climate during MIS 13 directly compared with the sea surface temperatures using sediments from IODP Site U1385, and combine those terrestrial-marine profiles with climate-model experiments. We show for the first time that MIS 13 stands out for its large forest expansions with a reduced Mediterranean character alternating with muted forest contractions, indicating that this stage is marked by a cool-temperate climate regime with high levels of humidity. Results of our data-model approach reveal that that the dominant effect of MIS 13 insolation forcing on the regional vegetation and precipitation regime in SW Iberia is amplified by the relatively large extent of the ice-sheets in high northern latitudes. In qualitative agreement with the pollen-based evidence, model results show that ice-sheet forcing triggers an increase in the SW Iberian tree fraction along with both intensified winter and summer rainfall. We propose that the interactions between ice-sheets and major atmospheric circulation systems may have resulted in the persistent influence of the mid-latitude cells over the SW Iberian region, which led to intensified moisture availability and reduced seasonality, and, in turn, to a pronounced expansion of the temperate forest. |
author2 |
UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Oliveira, Dulce Desprat, Stéphanie Yin, Qiuzhen |
spellingShingle |
Oliveira, Dulce Desprat, Stéphanie Yin, Qiuzhen Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
author_facet |
Oliveira, Dulce Desprat, Stéphanie Yin, Qiuzhen |
author_sort |
Oliveira, Dulce |
title |
Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
title_short |
Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
title_full |
Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
title_fullStr |
Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
title_full_unstemmed |
Enhanced humidity in SW Iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during MIS 13 interglacial |
title_sort |
enhanced humidity in sw iberia driven by the combination of insolation and ice-sheet forcing during mis 13 interglacial |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257612 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 |
genre |
Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FRS-FNRS/MIS/QuantLoess boreal:257612 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257612 doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11408 |
_version_ |
1799481791325667328 |