Antarctic Warm Events Research Articles

One‐To‐One Coupling Between Southern Ocean Productivity and Antarctica Climate

AbstractThe Southern Ocean is supposed to play a crucial role in influencing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, the dynamic relationships among the rate of Southern Ocean upwelling, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and Antarctic climate at millennial timescales remain unclear. Here, we present high‐resolution color reflectance component b* and natural gamma radiation from the southern Scotia Sea sector of the Southern Ocean to reconstruct productivity over the past 160 ka. We find that these two independent productivity proxies, reflecting the signal of nutrient supply in this region, captured millennial‐scale upwelling that covaried in timing with Heinrich Stadials and Antarctic warming events, supporting the bipolar seesaw mechanism. The one‐to‐one coupling of variability between productivity and atmospheric CO2 concentrations reveals that the upwelling is closely linked to atmospheric CO2 and climate change.

Climatic influence of the latest Antarctic isotope maximum of the last glacial period (AIM4) on Southern Patagonia

This paper presents the first detailed paleoclimate reconstruction of the latest Antarctic isotope maximum (AIM4, ~33–29kacal. BP) at 52°S in continental southeastern Argentine Patagonia. High-resolution sedimentological and geochemical analyses of sediments from the maar lake Potrok Aike (PTA) reveal a decrease in the thickness of flood-induced turbidites and a series of wind burst deposits during AIM4, both pointing to increasingly drier conditions. This interpretation is also supported by a significant amount of runoff-driven micropumices incorporated within the sediments that suggests a lower lake level with canyons incising thick tephra deposits around the lake. Increased gustiness and/or dust availability in southeast Patagonia, together with intensified Antarctic circumpolar circulation in the Drake Passage, dust deposition in the Scotia Sea and in Antarctica ice shelf, are consistent with a southward shift of the Southern Westerly Winds (SWW) during the AIM4. In contrast to other warmer AIMs, the SWW during the AIM4 did not migrate far enough south to generate upwelling in the Southern Ocean and they did not reach 52°S in SE Patagonia, as revealed by unchanged values of the rock-magnetic proxy of wind intensity obtained from the same PTA core. Nevertheless, the SWW displacement during AIM4 imposed drier conditions at 52°S in southeast Patagonia likely by blocking precipitation from the Atlantic Ocean, in a way similar to modern seasonal variations and the other Antarctic warm events.

Changes in south-east African tropical cyclone landfall frequency over the past 161 years

Variations in the sediment input to the Namaqualand mudbelt during the Holocene are assessed using an integrative terrestrial to marine, source to sink approach. Geochemical and Sr and Nd isotopic signatures are used to distinguish fluvial sediment source areas. Relative to the sediments of the Olifants River, craton outcrops in the northern Orange River catchment have a more radiogenic Sr and a more unradiogenic Nd isotopic signature. Furthermore, upper Orange River sediments are rich in heavier elements such as Ti and Fe derived from the chemical weathering of Drakensberg flood basalt. Suspension load signatures change along the Orange River's westward transit as northern catchments contribute physical weathering products from the Fish and Molopo River catchment area. Marine cores offshore of the Olifants (GeoB8323-2) and Orange (GeoB8331-4) River mouths show pulses of increased contribution of Olifants River and upper Orange River input, respectively. These pulses coincide with intervals of increased terrestrial organic matter flux and increased paleo-production at the respective core sites. We attribute this to an increase in fluvial activity and vegetation cover in the adjacent catchments during more humid climate conditions. The contrast in the timing of these wet phases in the catchment areas reflects the bipolar behavior of the South African summer and winter rainfall zones. While rainfall in the Orange River catchment is related to southward shifts in the ICTZ, rainfall in the Olifants catchment is linked to northward shifts in Southern Hemisphere Westerly storm tracks. The later may also have increased southern Benguela upwelling in the past by reducing the shedding of Agulhas eddies into the Atlantic. The high-resolution records of latitudinal shifts in these atmospheric circulation systems correspond to late Holocene centennial–millennial scale climate variability evident in Antarctic ice core records. The mudbelt cores indicate that phases of high summer rainfall zone and low winter rainfall zone humidity (at ca. 2.8 and 1 ka BP) may be synchronous with Antarctic warming events. On the other hand, dry conditions in the summer rainfall zone along with wet conditions in the winter rainfall zone (at ca 3.3, 2 and 0.5 ka BP) may be associated with Antarctic cooling events.

Southern Ocean deep convection as a driver of Antarctic warming events

AbstractSimulations with a free‐running coupled climate model show that heat release associated with Southern Ocean deep convection variability can drive centennial‐scale Antarctic temperature variations of up to 2.0°C. The mechanism involves three steps: Preconditioning: heat accumulates at depth in the Southern Ocean; Convection onset: wind and/or sea ice changes tip the buoyantly unstable system into the convective state; and Antarctic warming: fast sea ice‐albedo feedbacks (on annual‐decadal time scales) and slow Southern Ocean frontal and sea surface temperature adjustments to convective heat release (on multidecadal‐century time scales) drive an increase in atmospheric heat and moisture transport toward Antarctica. We discuss the potential of this mechanism to help drive and amplify climate variability as observed in Antarctic ice core records.

Holocene paleo-climatic record from the South African Namaqualand mudbelt: A source to sink approach

Variations in the sediment input to the Namaqualand mudbelt during the Holocene are assessed using an integrative terrestrial to marine, source to sink approach. Geochemical and Sr and Nd isotopic signatures are used to distinguish fluvial sediment source areas. Relative to the sediments of the Olifants River, craton outcrops in the northern Orange River catchment have a more radiogenic Sr and a more unradiogenic Nd isotopic signature. Furthermore, upper Orange River sediments are rich in heavier elements such as Ti and Fe derived from the chemical weathering of Drakensberg flood basalt. Suspension load signatures change along the Orange River's westward transit as northern catchments contribute physical weathering products from the Fish and Molopo River catchment area. Marine cores offshore of the Olifants (GeoB8323-2) and Orange (GeoB8331-4) River mouths show pulses of increased contribution of Olifants River and upper Orange River input, respectively. These pulses coincide with intervals of increased terrestrial organic matter flux and increased paleo-production at the respective core sites. We attribute this to an increase in fluvial activity and vegetation cover in the adjacent catchments during more humid climate conditions. The contrast in the timing of these wet phases in the catchment areas reflects the bipolar behavior of the South African summer and winter rainfall zones. While rainfall in the Orange River catchment is related to southward shifts in the ICTZ, rainfall in the Olifants catchment is linked to northward shifts in Southern Hemisphere Westerly storm tracks. The later may also have increased southern Benguela upwelling in the past by reducing the shedding of Agulhas eddies into the Atlantic. The high-resolution records of latitudinal shifts in these atmospheric circulation systems correspond to late Holocene centennial–millennial scale climate variability evident in Antarctic ice core records. The mudbelt cores indicate that phases of high summer rainfall zone and low winter rainfall zone humidity (at ca. 2.8 and 1 ka BP) may be synchronous with Antarctic warming events. On the other hand, dry conditions in the summer rainfall zone along with wet conditions in the winter rainfall zone (at ca 3.3, 2 and 0.5 ka BP) may be associated with Antarctic cooling events.

Shifting frontal regimes and its influence on bioproductivity variations during the Late Quaternary in the Indian sector of Southern Ocean

Reconstruction of palaeoproductivity from Southern Ocean is crucial for understanding the functioning of the Southern Ocean biological pump in the past. High resolution records of multi-proxy parameters (calcium carbonate, opal, total organic carbon biogenic barium and planktonic carbon isotope ratios (δ13C)) were investigated in two well-dated sediment cores (SK200/22a and SK200/27) from the Indian sector of Southern Ocean situated to the north and south of Antarctic Polar front (APF), respectively. The palaeoproductivity records extending ~95ka BP (SK200/22a) and 75ka BP (SK200/27) revealed inverse relationships between the calcite and opal productivity, indicating the influence of shifting nutrient regimes. At core SK200/22a, reduced calcite productivity during marine isotope stage (MIS) 2, 4, and part of MIS 3 suggest an equatorward migration of the frontal regimes during glacial intervals. Compared to this, the region south of the APF (core SK200/27) was characterized by the near absence of calcite content during the last glacial period and increased opal productivity during MIS 1 and MIS 3, supporting a southward migration of APF during warmer intervals. Ba(bio) records exhibit good correlation with opal records in both the cores and also correlate with that of calcite record at SK200/22a, indicating that Ba is influenced by the combined opal and calcite productivity. The enhanced opal productivity during the glacial periods north of the APF is attributed to the northward shifting of oceanic fronts and associated transfer of nutrients. Diatom productivity records of SK200/22a reveal significant similarities with the dust records from the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, but showed no significant relationships with the diatom record of SK200/27. It is proposed that the dust-derived Fe input had apparently influenced the palaeoproductivity north of the modern APF, but had a minor influence on opal productivity south of the APF. Comparison with the ice core climate records from Antarctica and Greenland revealed that bioproductivity peaks in the study region are nearly synchronous with the millennial Antarctic warming events. Remarkably, the calcite and opal productivity records at SK200/22a responded differently to the Antarctic warming events, with opal productivity lagging behind the calcite productivity peaks by ~1–2ka.

Contribution of enhanced Antarctic Bottom Water formation to Antarctic warm events and millennial-scale atmospheric CO2 increase

During Marine Isotope Stage 3, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) weakened significantly on a millennial time-scale leading to Greenland stadials. Ice core records reveal that each Greenland stadial is associated with a warming over Antarctica, so-called Antarctic Isotope Maximum (AIM), and that atmospheric CO2 increases with Antarctic temperature during the long Greenland stadials. Here we perform transient simulations spanning the period 50–34 ka B.P. with two Earth System Models (LOVECLIM and the UVic ESCM) to understand the possible link between changes in the AMOC, changes in high latitude Southern Hemispheric climate and evolution of atmospheric CO2. We find that oceanic carbon releases due to the AMOC resumption during stadial/interstadial transitions lead to an atmospheric CO2 increase. However, the atmospheric CO2 increases observed during the first parts of AIM12 (∼47.6 ka B.P.) and AIM8 (∼39.8 ka B.P.) occur during periods of weak AMOC (HS5 and HS4 respectively) and could instead be explained by enhanced Antarctic Bottom Water transport. Enhanced Antarctic Bottom Water formation is shown to effectively ventilate the deep Pacific carbon and lead to CO2 outgassing into the atmosphere. In addition, changes in the AMOC alone are not sufficient to explain the largest Antarctic Isotope Maxima (namely AIM12 and AIM8). Stronger formation of Antarctic Bottom Water during AIM12 and AIM8 would enhance the southern high latitude warming and lead to a better agreement with high southern latitude paleoproxy records. The robustness of this southern warming response is tested using an eddy-permitting coupled ocean sea–ice model. We show that stronger Antarctic Bottom Water formation contributes to Southern Ocean surface warming by increasing the Southern Ocean meridional heat transport.

Diatoms as indicators of hydrological and climatic changes in Laguna Potrok Aike (Patagonia) since the Late Pleistocene

Southern South America is a key site to study climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere, allowing for a wide variety of climatic archives. Recently, several investigations using lacustrine sediments have provided an enormous amount of information to reconstruct past environmental changes. In the framework of the Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project (PASADO) more than 500m of sediment cores were retrieved from the center of this lake.This contribution is centered in the diatom record of a core covering over the last 50cal. ka BP. Nine statistically significant zones were determined based on changes in the assemblages of more than 200 species of diatoms, showing changes in productivity throughout time. Although it appears that the presence of mass waste events may have triggered some peaks in productivity, large fluctuations in diatom abundance and changes in species assemblages coincide with distinctive Antarctic warm events, A2 and A1, described for Antarctic ice cores at around 44.5 and 38.5 kyr BP respectively (Blunier and Brook, 2001). Furthermore, a smaller diatom peak may account for the A3 event compatible with a new OSL-based chronological model. Up to now they have only been described for Antarctica, but the fact that these events are recorded in southern Patagonia indicates their magnitude and importance for climate in the Southern Hemisphere.

Correlation of Ice-Rafted Detritus in South Atlantic Sediments with Climate Proxies in Polar Ice over the Last Glacial Period

Previous study identified 6–7 millennial-scale episodes of South Atlantic ice-rafted sediment deposition (SA events) during the glaciation. Questions remain, however, regarding their origin, significance for sea-ice and/or Antarctic ice-sheet dynamics, and relationship to climate. Here I correlate sediment core (TTN057–21) SA events to Greenland and Antarctic ice using two independent methods, stable isotopes and geomagnetic paleointensity, placing SA events in the context of polar climate change in both hemispheres. Marine isotopic stage (MIS) 3 SA events generally coincided with Greenland interstadials and with cooling following Antarctic warm events (A1-A4). This anti-phase behavior is best illustrated when SA0 coincided with both the Antarctic Cold Reversal and Bolling-Allerod warming in Greenland. Moreover, SA events coincide with sea-level rises during the deglaciation (mwp1A) and MIS 3 (30.4, 38.3, 43.7, 51.5 ka), implying unpinning of grounded Weddell Sea region ice masses discharged debris-laden bergs that had a chilling effect on South Atlantic surface temperatures.

Palaeoenvironmental records from the West Antarctic Peninsula drift sediments over the last 75 ka

Abstract We present results of a multi-proxy study on marine sediment core JR179-PC466 recovered from the crest of a sediment drift off the West Antarctic Peninsula at approximately 2300 m water depth. The 10.45 m-long core consists dominantly of glaciomarine terrigenous sediments, with only traces of calcium carbonate (<1 wt%). Despite the very low abundance of calcareous foraminifera, planktonic shell numbers are sufficient for stable isotope analyses in two-thirds of the samples studied. The core chronology is based on oxygen isotope stratigraphy and correlation of its relative palaeomagnetic intensity (RPI) with a stacked reference curve. According to the age model, core PC466 spans the last 75 ka, with average sedimentation rates of between about 4 and 25 cm ka −1 . Planktonic foraminifera abundances fluctuate between 0 and 30 individuals per gram throughout the core, with minima observed during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 (14–29 ka before present, BP) and MIS4 (57–71 ka BP). Planktonic foraminifera are present in the Holocene but more abundant in sediments deposited during MIS3 (29–57 ka BP), owing to less dilution by terrigenous detritus and/or better carbonate preservation. During MIS3, foraminifera maxima correlate with Antarctic warming events as recorded in the δ 18 O signal of the EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) ice core. They indicate higher planktonic foraminifera production and better carbonate preservation west of the Antarctic Peninsula during that time. The abundance of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in core PC466 increased during the last deglaciation between about 19 and 11 ka BP, when numerous icebergs drifted across the core site, thereby releasing IRD. During this time, sea-level rise destabilized the Antarctic Peninsula (APIS) and West Antarctic (WAIS) ice sheets that had advanced onto the shelf during the sea-level low-stand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; c . 19–23 ka BP). Overall, our results demonstrate that it is possible to establish an age model and reconstruct palaeoceanographical and climatic changes at high temporal resolution from sedimentary sequences recovered at 2300 m water depth from a West Antarctic drift.

Mode change of millennial CO 2 variability during the last glacial cycle associated with a bipolar marine carbon seesaw

Important elements of natural climate variations during the last ice age are abrupt temperature increases over Greenland and related warming and cooling periods over Antarctica. Records from Antarctic ice cores have shown that the global carbon cycle also plays a role in these changes. The available data shows that atmospheric CO(2) follows closely temperatures reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores during these variations. Here, we present new high-resolution CO(2) data from Antarctic ice cores, which cover the period between 115,000 and 38,000y before present. Our measurements show that also smaller Antarctic warming events have an imprint in CO(2) concentrations. Moreover, they indicate that during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, the peak of millennial CO(2) variations lags the onset of Dansgaard/Oeschger warmings by 250±190y. During MIS 3, this lag increases significantly to 870±90y. Considerations of the ocean circulation suggest that the millennial variability associated with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) undergoes a mode change from MIS 5 to MIS 4 and 3. Ocean carbon inventory estimates imply that during MIS 3 additional carbon is derived from an extended mass of carbon-enriched Antarctic Bottom Water. The absence of such a carbon-enriched water mass in the North Atlantic during MIS 5 can explain the smaller amount of carbon released to the atmosphere after the Antarctic temperature maximum and, hence, the shorter lag. Our new data provides further constraints for transient coupled carbon cycle-climate simulations during the entire last glacial cycle.

Centennial mineral dust variability in high-resolution ice core data from Dome C, Antarctica

Abstract. Ice core data from Antarctica provide detailed insights into the characteristics of past climate, atmospheric circulation, as well as changes in the aerosol load of the atmosphere. We present high-resolution records of soluble calcium (Ca2+), non-sea-salt soluble calcium (nssCa2+), and particulate mineral dust aerosol from the East Antarctic Plateau at a depth resolution of 1 cm, spanning the past 800 000 years. Despite the fact that all three parameters are largely dust-derived, the ratio of nssCa2+ to particulate dust is dependent on the particulate dust concentration itself. We used principal component analysis to extract the joint climatic signal and produce a common high-resolution record of dust flux. This new record is used to identify Antarctic warming events during the past eight glacial periods. The phasing of dust flux and CO2 changes during glacial-interglacial transitions reveals that iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean during the past nine glacial terminations was not the dominant factor in the deglacial rise of CO2 concentrations. Rapid changes in dust flux during glacial terminations and Antarctic warming events point to a rapid response of the southern westerly wind belt in the region of southern South American dust sources on changing climate conditions. The clear lead of these dust changes on temperature rise suggests that an atmospheric reorganization occurred in the Southern Hemisphere before the Southern Ocean warmed significantly.

Millennial-scale variations in hydrography and biogeochemistry in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific over the last 100 kyr

In this study, we use records of nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N), UK’37 temperature estimates, organic carbon and opal percentages from high-resolution sediment cores located in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) to explore the mechanisms linking millennial-scale changes in low-latitude sea surface temperature, water column denitrification and surface productivity to the timing of northern or southern polar climate during the last 100,000 yr. Our results support a hypothesis that the Southern Hemisphere, and its connection to the low latitudes via shallow subsurface ocean circulation, has a primary influence on the biogeochemistry of the EEP. In addition, our results suggest that, during the last glacial stage, denitrification rates fluctuated on millennial timescales in response to water-column ventilation rather than upstream oxidant demand in intermediate-depth waters.However, due to the poor age constraints available for Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3, the EEP sedimentary data presented here could support two conflicting mechanisms, one driven by enhanced intermediate overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean during Heinrich Events/Antarctic Warm Events, implying that subsurface flow rates control thermocline ventilation, and a second one consistent with more sluggish intermediate circulation during Antarctic Warm Events and giving a central role to the temperature control on oxygen solubility in Southern Ocean surface waters.

Towards a quantitative understanding of millennial-scale Antarctic warming events

The interhemispheric temperature response to a meltwater-induced weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is characterized by a Northern Hemispheric cooling and a Southern Hemispheric warming. This so-called bipolar seesaw pattern explains many millennial-scale features identified in paleo-proxy records from both hemispheres. Here we present modeling evidence that suggests that the Southern Hemispheric response to a weakening of the AMOC includes elements that have previously been overlooked. Under present-day conditions, an AMOC weakening leads to an intensification of the negative phase of the Pacific South America (PSA) pattern with its southernmost pole north of the Ross Sea. An intensified PSA pattern may lead to a regional cooling of Marie Byrd Land, thereby favoring an in-phase temperature relationship between the Northern Hemisphere and the western side of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on millennial timescales. However, under glacial conditions due to reduced tropical diabatic forcing and reduced tropical extratropical teleconnections, the weakening of the AMOC induces a different austral winter-time atmospheric response pattern that is characterized by a wavenumber 2 structure and different air-temperature anomalies. We furthermore demonstrate that the observed CO 2 changes that accompanied major disruptions of the AMOC may have helped to amplify Antarctic warming events (A-events) due to radiative forcing and the polar amplification mechanism. Our modeling results provide a new framework to explain a considerable fraction of the observed millennial-scale variance in Southern Hemispheric climate records during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3).

Circum-Antarctic age modelling of Quaternary marine cores under the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Ice-core dust–magnetic correlation

Sediments in the belt under the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) contain high quantities of siliceous microfossils (mainly diatoms) and very little to zero carbonate. This prevents establishment of the age by the usual methods of oxygen isotope stratigraphy at most coring sites. Downcore variation in magnetic susceptibility (MS) from cores from the Scotia Sea closely resembles the temporal pattern of dust concentration and flux in East Antarctic ice cores. The validity of the temporal correlation between marine MS and EPICA Dome C (EDC) dust on the EDC3 time scale is established through 14C dating of the acid insoluble organic matter back to 30 ka, and radiolarian abundance stratigraphy of Cycladophora davisiana back to 180 ka. The correlations are good ( r > 0.80) and give credence to the use of MS-dust as a means of establishing chronostratigraphy in carbonate-free pelagic sediments from the Southern Ocean. This correlation has been established in > 10 cores in the Scotia Sea. The circum-Antarctic validity of the pattern is shown in correlations to MS in sediment cores from the Indian and SW Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. During MIS 3 (57–29 ka), when sedimentation rates at correlated core sites exceeded 10 cm ka − 1 , three MS maxima in the marine sediments and dust peaks at EDC, respectively, correspond to the cool periods between Antarctic warm events A1–A4. We have not established the precise cause of the correlation, but its validity around the circum-Antarctic west wind belt suggests that the material was either all transported by wind or was supplemented by wind-driven current transport. The fact that it occurs also in sections with a low terrigenous content suggests a fine grained, high-susceptibility material such as magnetite as the likely source.

A modeling assessment of the interplay between aeolian iron fluxes and iron‐binding ligands in controlling carbon dioxide fluctuations during Antarctic warm events

We add a prognostic biogeochemical model to the Bern3D ocean circulation model to test the impact of increased aeolian iron fluxes in various regions of the ocean on long time scales. Atmospheric CO2 is most sensitive when modern dust flux is increased 100‐fold in the Southern Ocean for 1000 years, resulting in a reduction of 10 ppmv. Seeding the Indian Ocean and South Pacific results in increased export production and CO2 drawdown in the Southern Ocean due to interbasinal transport of iron. The non‐sea‐salt calcium record from Dome C, Antarctica, is used to scale aeolian iron deposition in the Southern Ocean in transient simulations over four Antarctic warm events of the last glacial period. Our results suggest changes in dust flux to the Southern Ocean played a limited role in modulating CO2 variations. The impact of iron fluxes on CO2 is dependent on parameter values chosen for the iron‐binding ligand.

Centennial-scale climate variability in the Timor Sea during Marine Isotope Stage 3

We present a high-resolution (∼ 60–110 yr) multi-proxy record spanning Marine Isotope Stage 3 from IMAGES Core MD01-2378 (13°04.95′ S and 121°47.27′ E, 1783 m water depth), located in the Timor Sea, off NW Australia. Today, this area is influenced by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which drives monsoonal winds during austral summer and by the main outflow of the Indonesian Throughflow, which represents a key component of the global thermohaline circulation system. Thus, this core is ideally situated to monitor the linkages between tropical and high latitude climate variability. Benthic δ 18O data ( Planulina wuellerstorfi) clearly reflect Antarctic warm events (A1–A4) as recorded by the EPICA Byrd and Dronning Maud Land ice cores. This southern high latitude signal is transferred by deep and intermediate water masses flowing northward from the Southern Ocean into the Indian Ocean. Planktonic δ 18O shows closer affinity to northern high latitudes planktonic and ice core records, although only the longer-lasting Dansgaard–Oeschger warm events, 8, 12, 14, and 16–17 are clearly expressed in our record. This northern high latitude signal in the surface water is probably transmitted through atmospheric teleconnections and coupling of the Asian–Australian monsoon systems. Benthic foraminiferal census counts suggest a coupling of Antarctic cooling with carbon flux patterns in the Timor Sea. We relate increasing abundances of carbon-flux sensitive species at 38–45 ka to the northeastward migration of the West Australian Current frontal area. This water mass reorganization is also supported by concurrent decreases in Mg/Ca and planktonic δ 18O values ( Globigerinoides ruber white).

Direct north-south synchronization of abrupt climate change record in ice cores using Beryllium 10

Abstract. A new, decadally resolved record of the 10Be peak at 41 kyr from the EPICA Dome C ice core (Antarctica) is used to match it with the same peak in the GRIP ice core (Greenland). This permits a direct synchronisation of the climatic variations around this time period, independent of uncertainties related to the ice age-gas age difference in ice cores. Dansgaard-Oeschger event 10 is in the period of best synchronisation and is found to be coeval with an Antarctic temperature maximum. Simulations using a thermal bipolar seesaw model agree reasonably well with the observed relative climate chronology in these two cores. They also reproduce three Antarctic warming events observed between A1 and A2.

Antarctic link to deep flow speed variation during Marine Isotope Stage 3 in the western North Atlantic

The Western Boundary Undercurrent (WBUC), off eastern America, is an important component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning circulation and is the principal route for southward transport of North Atlantic waters and southward return of Southern Source Water (SSW). Here a direct flow speed proxy (mean grain size of the sortable silt) is used to infer the vigour of flow of the palaeo-WBUC at Blake Outer Ridge, (ODP Site 1060, depth 3481 m) during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. The overall shape of the flow speed proxy record shows a complex pattern of variability, with generally more vigorous flow and larger-scale flow variations between 35 and 60 ka than in the younger part of MIS 3 and MIS 2 (< 35 ka). Six events of reduced bottom flow vigour (Slow Events, SEs) occur. These appear uncorrelated with Heinrich events, but are instead synchronous with the warming phases of Antarctic Warm Events A-1 to A-4 (with one new one, A-1a and one poorly defined, ‘A-0’). This indicates that Antarctic climate exerts a stronger control on deep flow vigour in the North Atlantic during MIS 3 than Northern Hemisphere climate. The correspondence of SEs with Antarctic warming suggests a weaker WBUC flow due to reduced volume flux at SSW source or reduced SSW density. Because the variability of the lower limb of the WBUC was not connected to sharp North Atlantic changes in temperature, it is unlikely that the Dansgaard/Oeschger cycles were associated with a mode of MOC variation involving whole-ocean overturn, but more likely with perturbations of only the shallow Glacial Gulf Stream–Glacial Northern Source Intermediate Water cell. Nutrient proxies (benthic carbon isotopes and Cd/Ca of Uvigerina peregrina) at this site show similar trends to the GRIP δ 18O record. This correlation has previously been attributed mainly to hydrographic and flow changes but is here shown to be better explained by variations in surface ocean productivity and subsequent decomposition of 12C rich organic material on the sea floor.

Glacial/interglacial changes in mineral dust and sea‐salt records in polar ice cores: Sources, transport, and deposition

Sea‐salt and mineral dust records as represented by Na+ and Ca2+ concentrations, respectively, in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show pronounced glacial/interglacial variations. For the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), mineral dust (sea salt) concentrations in Greenland show an increase of a factor of approximately 80 (15) compared to the Holocene and significant shifts by a factor of 15 (5) during Dansgaard‐Oeschger events. In Antarctica the dust (sea salt) flux is enhanced by a factor of 15 (3) during the LGM compared to the Holocene, and variations by approximately a factor of 8 (1–2) exist in parallel to Antarctic warm events. Primary glacial dust sources are the Asian deserts for Greenland and Patagonia for Antarctica. Ice core evidence and model results show that both changes in source strength as well as atmospheric transport and lifetime contributed to the observed changes in Greenland ice cores. In Antarctica, changes in ice core fluxes are in large parts related to source variations both for sea salt and dust, where the formation of sea‐salt aerosol from sea ice may play a pivotal role. Summarizing our latest estimates on changes in sources, transport, and deposition, these processes are roughly able to explain the glacial increase in sea salt in both polar regions, while they fall short by at least a factor of 4–7 for mineral dust. Future improvements in model resolution and in the formulation of source and transport processes together with new ice core records, e.g., on dust size distributions, will eventually allow convergence of models and observations.