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Journal article

Rapid global ocean-atmosphere response to Southern Ocean freshening during the last glacial

Abstract:

Contrasting Greenland and Antarctic temperatures during the last glacial period (115,000 to 11,650 years ago) are thought to have been driven by imbalances in the rates of formation of North Atlantic and Antarctic Deep Water (the ‘bipolar seesaw’). Here we exploit a bidecadally-resolved 14C dataset obtained from New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis) to undertake high-precision alignment of key climate datasets spanning iceberg-rafted debris event Heinrich 3 and Greenland Interstadial (GI) 5.1 in the North Atlantic (~30,400 to 28,400 to years ago). We observe no divergence between the kauri and Atlantic marine sediment 14C datasets, implying limited changes in deep water formation. However, a Southern Ocean (Atlantic-sector) iceberg rafted debris event appears to have occurred synchronously with GI-5.1 warming and decreased precipitation over the western equatorial Pacific and Atlantic. An ensemble of transient meltwater simulations shows that Antarctic-sourced salinity anomalies can be propagated globally via an atmospheric Rossby wave train.

Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1038/s41467-017-00577-6

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
SSD
Department:
School of Archaeology
Sub department:
Archaeology Research Lab
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
SSD
Department:
School of Archaeology
Sub department:
Archaeology Research Lab
Role:
Author


Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Journal:
Nature Communications More from this journal
Volume:
8
Pages:
520
Publication date:
2017-09-12
Acceptance date:
2017-07-07
DOI:
EISSN:
2041-1723


Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:705514
UUID:
uuid:2480939a-69b7-4d8f-a4ef-77d7fc4980d9
Local pid:
pubs:705514
Source identifiers:
705514
Deposit date:
2017-07-07

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