Subsurface Heat Channel Drove Sea Surface Warming in the High‐Latitude North Atlantic During the Mid‐Pleistocene Transition

Abstract

AbstractThe Mid‐Pleistocene Transition (MPT, 1,200–600 ka) marks the rapid expansion of Northern Hemisphere (NH) continental ice sheets and stronger precession pacing of glacial/interglacial cyclicity. Here, we investigate the relationship between thermocline depth in the central North Atlantic, subsurface northward heat transport and the initiation of the 100‐kyr cyclicity during the MPT. To reconstruct deep‐thermocline temperatures, we generated a Mg/Ca‐based temperature record of deep‐dwelling (∼800 m) planktonic foraminifera from mid‐latitude North Atlantic at Site U1313. This record shows phases of pronounced heat accumulation at subsurface levels during the mid‐MPT glacial driven by increased outflow of the Mediterranean Sea. Concurrent warming of the subtropical thermocline and subpolar surface waters indicates enhanced (subsurface) inter‐gyre transport of warm water to the subpolar North Atlantic, which provided moisture for ice‐sheet growth. Precession‐modulated variability in the northward transport of subtropical waters imprinted this orbital cyclicity into NH ice‐sheets after Marine Isotope Stage 24.