Abstract
Abstract. Several climate oscillations have been reported from the early Holocene superepoch, the best known of which is the Preboreal oscillation (PBO). It is still unclear how the PBO and the number of climate oscillations observed in Greenland ice cores and European terrestrial records are related to one another. This is mainly due to uncertainties in the chronologies of the records. Here, we present new, high-resolution 10Be concentration data from the varved Meerfelder Maar sediment record in Germany, spanning the period 11 310–11 000 years BP. These new data allow us to synchronize this well-studied record, as well as Greenland ice core records, with the IntCal13 timescale via radionuclide wiggle matching. In doing so, we show that the climate oscillations identified in Greenland and Europe between 11 450 and 11 000 years BP were not synchronous but terminated and began, respectively, with the onset of a grand solar minimum. A similar spatial anomaly pattern is found in a number of modeling studies on solar forcing of climate in the North Atlantic region. We further postulate that freshwater delivery to the North Atlantic would have had the potential to amplify solar forcing through a slowdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) reinforcing surface air temperature anomalies in the region.
Highlights
One of the great challenges in paleoclimatology today is how to better assess the spatial and temporal dynamics of past climate changes
Because GRIP 10Be data and the 14C atmospheric production rate are unaffected by environmental changes at Meerfelder Maar (MFM), we suggest that the catchment area of MFM was likely influenced by the substantial changes in solar activity that characterized this period rather than 10Be concentration at MFM being affected by this sediment compositional change
The timescale synchronization showed that an environmental shift at MFM starting at 11 250 years BP is coincident with a transition from high solar activity to a long-lasting grand solar minimum, as well as with the termination of the 11.4 ka event in Greenland
Summary
One of the great challenges in paleoclimatology today is how to better assess the spatial and temporal dynamics of past climate changes This can only be achieved through robust and consistent chronologies for different records and different regions. This is a challenging task, and we often assume the synchrony of such events through climate tuning different records. One such example is the Preboreal oscillation (PBO) (Björck et al, 1996), which represents a cold spell that occurred shortly after the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition. It is, unclear whether the 11.4 ka event in Greenland and the European PBO represent one single and synchronous widespread event, an event
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