Regional Variations of the Azores High Across Glacial‐Interglacial Timescales

• Published in: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
• Main Authors: Hevia‐cruz, F, Hildenbrand, A., Sheldon, N, D, Hren, M, T, Marques, F, O, Carlut, J., Chabaux, F.
• Other Authors: Géosciences Paris Saclay (GEOPS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of Michigan System, University of Connecticut (UCONN), Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon = Université de Lisbonne (ULISBOA), Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP (UMR_7154)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Institut Terre Environnement Strasbourg (ITES), École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg (ENGEES)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), CNRS‐ INSU TelluS‐SYSTER program 2022– 2023 (CLEAM project, PIs A. Hildenbrand/F. Hevia-Cruz), french MESRI doctoral program and Graduate School Géosciences Climat Environnement Planètes (Université Paris-Saclay)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDU.STU.GC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geochemistry; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04612708; https://hal.science/hal-04612708/document; https://hal.science/hal-04612708/file/Paleoceanog%20and%20Paleoclimatol%20-%202024%20-%20Hevia%E2%80%90Cruz%20-%20Regional%20Variations%20of%20the%20Azores%20High%20Across%20Glacial%E2%80%90Interglacial.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2023pa004810

International audience The late Quaternary paleoclimate of the North Atlantic region has been widely studied, but the local terrestrial response to broader climatic variations remains underexplored. The Azores Archipelago, influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Azores High, is a strategic target to investigate such interactions. Here, paleosols developed in equilibrium with the atmosphere recorded environmental variations in their geochemistry, and volcanic units sealing those paleosols allow for their precise dating. Clay mineralogical transfer functions from paleosol geochemistry and geochronological data were used to track paleoclimatic and paleoecological changes in this region over the past 1.3 Myr. Mean annual precipitation and air temperature reconstructions range from 620 to 1,520 mm yr$^{−1}$ and 14–26°C, with the latter tightly coupled with previous reconstructions of sea surface temperature. New K‐Ar ages evidence pulsed soil formation periods under weathering‐favorable wet and warm conditions, suggesting periods of a persistent negative NAO with a weakened or more southern Azores High after glacial Terminations I, II, IV, V, IX, and X. Our humidity province reconstructions indicate a prevailing moist to wet forest under cool temperate to subtropical conditions, with less variability than continental Europe. A rapid paleoecological shift occurred at ∼430 ka in São Miguel Island, probably associated with the high amplitude of Termination V. Paleoecological changes younger than 430 ka could be related to local, not large‐scale, climate changes. Average past precipitations were ∼170 mm yr$^{−1}$ lower than in the present, which suggests that modern weathering rates are higher than observed in our record.