scholarly journals Testing and Improving the IntCal20 Calibration Curve with Independent Records

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 1079-1094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raimund Muscheler ◽  
Florian Adolphi ◽  
Timothy J Heaton ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Anders Svensson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Calibration Curve ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Anchor Points ◽  
The Last Glacial

ABSTRACTConnecting calendar ages to radiocarbon (14C) ages, i.e. constructing a calibration curve, requires 14C samples that represent, or are closely connected to, atmospheric 14C values and that can also be independently dated. In addition to these data, there is information that can serve as independent tests of the calibration curve. For example, information from ice core radionuclide data cannot be directly incorporated into the calibration curve construction as it delivers less direct information on the 14C age–calendar age relationship but it can provide tests of the quality of the calibration curve. Furthermore, ice core ages on 14C-dated volcanic eruptions provide key information on the agreement of ice core and radiocarbon time scales. Due to their scarcity such data would have little impact if directly incorporated into the calibration curve. However, these serve as important “anchor points” in time for independently testing the calibration curve and/or ice-core time scales. Here we will show that such information largely supports the new IntCal20 calibration record. Furthermore, we discuss how floating tree-ring sequences on ice-core time scales agree with the new calibration curve. For the period around 40,000 years ago we discuss unresolved differences between ice core 10Be and 14C records that are possibly related to our limited understanding of carbon cycle influences on the atmospheric 14C concentration during the last glacial period. Finally, we review the results on the time scale comparison between the Greenland ice-core time scale (GICC05) and IntCal20 that effectively allow a direct comparison of 14C-dated records with the Greenland ice core data.

The ice core record of atmospheric CO2 variability during the Last Glacial Period: new insights from timing and isotopes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bauska ◽  
Shaun Marcott ◽  
Ed Brook
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ocean Temperature ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Sea Ice Extent ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Ice Core Record ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) concentrations during the last glacial period (70,000 – 23,000 years ago) fluctuated on millennial timescales closely following variations in Antarctic temperature. This close coupling has suggested that the sources and sinks driving millennial scale CO<sub>2</sub> changes are dominated by processes in the Southern Ocean. However, recent work revealed centennial-scale increases in CO<sub>2</sub> during abrupt climate events of the last deglaciation which may represent a second mechanism of carbon cycle variability. </p><p>Here we analyze a high resolution CO<sub>2</sub> record from the last glacial period from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS Divide) that precisely defines the timing of CO<sub>2</sub> changes with respect to Antarctic ice core proxies for temperature, dust delivery, and sea-ice extent down to the centennial-timescale. Although CO<sub>2</sub> closely tracks all these proxies over millennia, peak CO<sub>2</sub> levels most often lag behind all proxies by a few hundred years. This decoupling from Antarctic climate variability is most prominent during the onset of DO interstadial events when CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub> and Greenland temperature all increase simultaneously. Regression analysis suggests that the CO<sub>2</sub> variations can be explained by a combination of two mechanisms: one operating on the time scale of Antarctic climate variability, and a second responding on the Dansgaard-Oeschger time scale.  </p><p>Recent δ<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> data from the last glacial period support our finding that CO<sub>2</sub> variability is the sum of multiple mechanisms.  The Antarctic climate variability is likely associated with the release of respired organic carbon from the deep ocean.  Superimposed on these oscillations are two types of centennial-scale changes: CO<sub>2</sub> increases and δ<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> minima in the middle of Heinrich stadials and ii) CO<sub>2</sub> increases and small changes in δ<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2 </sub>that at the onset of DO interstadial event.</p><p>To provide a comprehensive and quantitative constraint on the mechanisms of CO<sub>2</sub> variability during the last glacial period, we run a large suite of transient box model experiments (n = 500) forced with varying combinations of forcings based on proxy time-series (e.g. AABW formation, NADW formation, ocean temperature, dust delivery, and sea-ice extent).  Using data constraints from the ice core records of CO<sub>2</sub>, δ<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> and mean ocean temperature, we arrive at an ensemble of scenarios that can explain a large amount of the centennial and millennial-scale variability observed in the ice core record. Parsing this into a series of factorial experiments we find that Southern Hemisphere processes can explain 80% of the observed variability and Northern Hemisphere processes account for the remaining 20%.  A further breakdown on the level of individual mechanisms is marred by the high degree of correlation between carbon cycle forcings likely operating in the Southern Hemisphere.  None-the-less, our results highlight how multiple mechanisms operating over multiple timescales may have interacted during the last glacial period to drive changes in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>. </p>

scholarly journals Bipolar volcanic synchronization of abrupt climate change in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores during the last glacial period

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1565-1580
Author(s):  
Anders Svensson ◽  
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen ◽  
Jørgen Peder Steffensen ◽  
Thomas Blunier ◽  
Sune O. Rasmussen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Deuterium Excess ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. The last glacial period is characterized by a number of millennial climate events that have been identified in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores and that are abrupt in Greenland climate records. The mechanisms governing this climate variability remain a puzzle that requires a precise synchronization of ice cores from the two hemispheres to be resolved. Previously, Greenland and Antarctic ice cores have been synchronized primarily via their common records of gas concentrations or isotopes from the trapped air and via cosmogenic isotopes measured on the ice. In this work, we apply ice core volcanic proxies and annual layer counting to identify large volcanic eruptions that have left a signature in both Greenland and Antarctica. Generally, no tephra is associated with those eruptions in the ice cores, so the source of the eruptions cannot be identified. Instead, we identify and match sequences of volcanic eruptions with bipolar distribution of sulfate, i.e. unique patterns of volcanic events separated by the same number of years at the two poles. Using this approach, we pinpoint 82 large bipolar volcanic eruptions throughout the second half of the last glacial period (12–60 ka). This improved ice core synchronization is applied to determine the bipolar phasing of abrupt climate change events at decadal-scale precision. In response to Greenland abrupt climatic transitions, we find a response in the Antarctic water isotope signals (δ18O and deuterium excess) that is both more immediate and more abrupt than that found with previous gas-based interpolar synchronizations, providing additional support for our volcanic framework. On average, the Antarctic bipolar seesaw climate response lags the midpoint of Greenland abrupt δ18O transitions by 122±24 years. The time difference between Antarctic signals in deuterium excess and δ18O, which likewise informs the time needed to propagate the signal as described by the theory of the bipolar seesaw but is less sensitive to synchronization errors, suggests an Antarctic δ18O lag behind Greenland of 152±37 years. These estimates are shorter than the 200 years suggested by earlier gas-based synchronizations. As before, we find variations in the timing and duration between the response at different sites and for different events suggesting an interaction of oceanic and atmospheric teleconnection patterns as well as internal climate variability.

scholarly journals Volcanic forcing and climate variations during the last glacial period

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4941-4956
Author(s):  
A. F. Flinders
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Measurements of δ18O in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice-core from Summit, Greenland, show repeated temporal variations associated with rapid warming events throughout the last glacial period of the Pleistocene-10–110 kya. The majority of these warming events are preceded in the ice-core record by an increased concentration of insoluble micro-particulate sulfate, indicative of increases in global volcanism. Wavelet analysis of ice-core and marine-sediment records show a repeated 5000–6000 yr periodicity in both volcanic SO4 and δ18O ice records, as well as a 5000–8000 yr cycle in the lithic concentration of ice-rafted debris, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and a database of late Quaternary volcanic eruptions. Increasing concentrations in atmospheric CO2 and CH4 initiated during periods of increased volcanism, peaking during a warm transition, reflect a volcanic-atmospheric-deglaciation feedback, regulated by meridional overturning current-shutdown related cooling.

The role of volcanism for abrupt climate change during the last glacial period

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Svensson ◽  
Johannes Lohmann ◽  
Sune Olander Rasmussen ◽  
Christo Buizert
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Heinrich Events ◽  
Climate Events ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>During the last glacial period, abrupt climate events known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich events have been observed in various types of Northern Hemispheric (NH) paleoclimate archives. It has been speculated that volcanism may play a role in the abrupt climate variability of the last glacial period, for example as a trigger of abrupt changes. The investigation of a possible link between abrupt climate events and volcanic eruptions has been hampered by the lack of a global volcanic eruption record from the last glacial period. A recent identification of 80 major bipolar volcanic eruptions in Greenland and Antarctic ice core records within the interval 12-60 ka BP now enables us to investigate this link.</p><p>Using high-resolution ice-core records of climate (δ<sup>18</sup>O), atmospheric circulation changes (calcium) and volcanic eruptions (sulfate and other volcanic proxies) we investigate the timing of abrupt climate events and large volcanic eruptions at decadal resolution. We consider possible links between major volcanic eruptions and DO onsets (NH warming), DO terminations (NH cooling), and Heinrich stadials (strong NH cooling). Heinrich stadials are cold Greenland stadial periods during which Heinrich events occurred; large Hudson Strait iceberg discharge events that are characterized by deposition of significant amounts of ice rafted debris in North Atlantic marine sediments.</p><p>Significant links of volcanic and climatic events are tested in a statistical framework under the null hypothesis of random and memoryless volcanic activity. Our analysis shows that while certainly not all abrupt climate change of the last glacial period is associated with volcanism, we find that volcanism may have induced some abrupt Greenland warming events and perhaps several of the extreme North Atlantic cold Heinrich stadials; no significant link is found between volcanism and DO terminations. We speculate that volcanic cooling can drive such transitions when the coupled system of Atlantic Ocean circulation and North Atlantic sea ice is close to a tipping point.</p>

scholarly journals Bipolar volcanic synchronization of abrupt climate change in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores during the last glacial period

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Svensson ◽  
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen ◽  
Jørgen Peder Steffensen ◽  
Thomas Blunier ◽  
Sune O. Rasmussen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Deuterium Excess ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. The last glacial period is characterized by a number of abrupt climate events that have been identified in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores. The mechanisms governing this climate variability remain a puzzle that requires a precise synchronization of ice cores from the two Hemispheres to be resolved. Previously, Greenland and Antarctic ice cores have been synchronized primarily via their common records of gas concentrations or isotopes from the trapped air and via cosmogenic isotopes measured on the ice. In this work, we apply ice-core volcanic proxies and annual layer counting to identify large volcanic eruptions that have left a signature in both Greenland and Antarctica. Generally, no tephra is associated with those eruptions in the ice cores, so the source of the eruptions cannot be identified. Instead, we identify and match sequences of volcanic eruptions with bipolar distribution of sulfate, i.e. unique patterns of volcanic events separated by the same number of years at the two poles. Using this approach, we pinpoint 80 large bipolar volcanic eruptions throughout the second half of the last glacial period (12–60 ka before present). This improved ice-core synchronization is applied to determine the bipolar phasing of abrupt climate change events at decadal-scale precision. During abrupt transitions, we find more coherent Antarctic water isotopic signals (δ18O and deuterium excess) than was obtained from previous gas-based synchronizations, providing additional support for our volcanic framework. On average, the Antarctic bipolar seesaw climate response lags the midpoint of Greenland abrupt δ18O transitions by 122 ± 24 years. The time difference between Antarctic signals in deuterium excess and δ18O, which is less sensitive to synchronization errors, suggests an Antarctic δ18O lag of 152 ± 37 years. These estimates are shorter than the 200 years suggested by earlier gas-based synchronizations. As before, we find variations in the timing and duration between the response at different sites and for different events suggesting an interaction of oceanic and atmospheric teleconnection patterns as well as internal climate variability.

scholarly journals Ventilation changes in the western North Pacific since the last glacial period

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 2719-2739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Okazaki ◽  
T. Sagawa ◽  
H. Asahi ◽  
K. Horikawa ◽  
J. Onodera
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Sedimentation ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. We reconstructed the ventilation record of deep water at 2100 m depth in the mid-latitude western North Pacific over the past 25 kyr from radiocarbon measurements of coexisting planktic and benthic foraminiferal shells in sediment with a high sedimentation rate. The 14C data on fragile and robust planktic foraminiferal shells were concordant with each other, ensuring high quality of the reconstructed ventilation record. The radiocarbon activity changes were consistent with the atmospheric record, suggesting that no massive mixing of old carbon from the abyssal reservoir occurred throughout the glacial to deglacial periods.

Identification of the Fugloyarbanki tephra in the NGRIP ice core: a key tie‐point for marine and ice‐core sequences during the last glacial period

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 409-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Davies ◽  
S. Wastegård ◽  
T. L. Rasmussen ◽  
A. Svensson ◽  
S. J. Johnsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

scholarly journals Oceanic forcing of the Eurasian Ice Sheet on millennial time scales during the Last Glacial Period

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Alvarez-Solas ◽  
Rubén Banderas ◽  
Alexander Robinson ◽  
Marisa Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. The last glacial period (LGP; ca.110–10 ka BP) was marked by the existence of two types of abrupt climatic changes, Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich (H) events. Although the mechanisms behind these are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that the presence of ice sheets played an important role in their occurrence. While an important effort has been made to investigate the dynamics and evolution of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during this period, the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS) has not received much attention, in particular from a modeling perspective. However, meltwater discharge from this and other ice sheets surrounding the Nordic Seas is often implied as a potential cause of ocean instabilities that lead to glacial abrupt climate changes. Thus, a better understanding of its variations during the LGP is important to understand its role in glacial abrupt climate changes. Here we investigate the response of the EIS to millennial-scale climate variability during the LGP. We use a hybrid, three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice-sheet model that includes ice shelves and ice streams. The model is forced offline through a novel perturbative approach that includes the effect of both atmospheric and oceanic variations and provides a more realistic treatment of millennial-scale climatic variability than conventional methods. Our results show that the EIS responds with enhanced ice discharge in phase with interstadial warming in the North Atlantic when forced with surface ocean temperatures. Conversely, when subsurface ocean temperatures are used, enhanced ice discharge occurs both during stadials and at the beginning of the interstadials. Separating the atmospheric and oceanic effects demonstrates the major role of the ocean in controlling the dynamics of the EIS on millennial time scales. While the atmospheric forcing alone is only able to produce modest iceberg discharges, warming of the ocean leads to higher rates of iceberg discharges as a result of relatively strong basal melting at the margins of the ice sheet. Together with previous work, our results provide a consistent explanation for the response of the LIS and the EIS to glacial abrupt climate changes, and highlight the need for stronger constraints on the local North Atlantic behavior in order to improve our understanding of the ice sheet's glacial dynamics.

scholarly journals NALPS19: Sub-orbital scale climate variability recorded in Northern Alpine speleothems during the last glacial period

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina E. Moseley ◽  
Christoph Spötl ◽  
Susanne Brandstätter ◽  
Tobias Erhardt ◽  
Marc Luetscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Change State ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Sub-orbital-scale climate variability of the last glacial period provides important insights into the rates that the climate can change state, the mechanisms that drive that change, and the leads, lags and synchronicity occurring across different climate zones. Such short-term climate variability has previously been investigated using speleothems from the northern rim of the Alps (NALPS), enabling direct chronological comparisons with highly similar shifts in Greenland ice cores. In this study, we present NALPS19, which includes a revision of the last glacial NALPS δ18O chronology over the interval 118.3 to 63.7 ka using eleven,newly-available, clean, precisely-dated stalagmites from five caves. Using only the most reliable and precisely dated records, this period is now 90 % complete and is comprised of 15 stalagmites from seven caves. Where speleothems grew synchronously, major transitional events between stadials and interstadials (and vice versa) are all in agreement within uncertainty. Ramp-fitting analysis further reveals good agreement between the NALPS19 speleothem δ18O record, the GICC05modelext NGRIP ice-core δ18O record, and the Asian Monsoon composite speleothem δ18O record. In contrast, NGRIP ice-core δ18O on AICC2012 appears to be considerably too young. We also propose a longer duration for the interval covering Greenland Stadial (GS) 22 to GS-21.2 in line with the Asian monsoon and NGRIP-EDML. Given the near-complete record of δ18O variability during the last glacial period in the northern Alps, we offer preliminary considerations regarding the controls on mean δ18O. We find that as expected, δ18O values became increasingly more depleted with distance from the oceanic source regions, and increasingly depleted with increasing altitude. Exceptions were found for some high-elevation sites that locally display δ18O values that are too high in comparison to lower-elevation sites, thus indicating a summer bias in the recorded signal. Finally, we propose a new mechanism for the centennial-scale stadial-level depletions in δ18O such as "pre-cursor" events GS-16.2, GS-17.2, GS-21.2, and GS-23.2, as well as the "within-interstadial" GS-24.2 event. Our new high-precision chronology shows that each of these δ18O depletions occurred shortly following rapid rises in sea level associated with increased ice-rafted debris and southward shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, suggesting that influxes of meltwater from moderately-sized ice sheets may have been responsible for the cold reversals causing the AMOC to slow down similar to the Preboreal Oscillation and Older Dryas deglacial events.

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