scholarly journals Abrupt Heinrich Stadial 1 cooling missing in Greenland oxygen isotopes

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (25) ◽  
pp. eabh1007
Author(s):  
Chengfei He ◽  
Zhengyu Liu ◽  
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner ◽  
Esther C. Brady ◽  
Chenyu Zhu ◽  
...  

Abrupt climate changes during the last deglaciation have been well preserved in proxy records across the globe. However, one long-standing puzzle is the apparent absence of the onset of the Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) cold event around 18 ka in Greenland ice core oxygen isotope δ18O records, inconsistent with other proxies. Here, combining proxy records with an isotope-enabled transient deglacial simulation, we propose that a substantial HS1 cooling onset did indeed occur over the Arctic in winter. However, this cooling signal in the depleted oxygen isotopic composition is completely compensated by the enrichment because of the loss of winter precipitation in response to sea ice expansion associated with AMOC slowdown during extreme glacial climate. In contrast, the Arctic summer warmed during HS1 and YD because of increased insolation and greenhouse gases, consistent with snowline reconstructions. Our work suggests that Greenland δ18O may substantially underestimate temperature variability during cold glacial conditions.

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 671-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Pedro ◽  
T. D. van Ommen ◽  
S. O. Rasmussen ◽  
V. I. Morgan ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Precise information on the relative timing of north-south climate variations is a key to resolving questions concerning the mechanisms that force and couple climate changes between the hemispheres. We present a new composite record made from five well-resolved Antarctic ice core records that robustly represents the timing of regional Antarctic climate change during the last deglaciation. Using fast variations in global methane gas concentrations as time markers, the Antarctic composite is directly compared to Greenland ice core records, allowing a detailed mapping of the inter-hemispheric sequence of climate changes. Consistent with prior studies the synchronized records show that warming (and cooling) trends in Antarctica closely match cold (and warm) periods in Greenland on millennial timescales. For the first time, we also identify a sub-millennial component to the inter-hemispheric coupling. Within the Antarctic Cold Reversal the strongest Antarctic cooling occurs during the pronounced northern warmth of the Bølling. Warming then resumes in Antarctica, potentially as early as the Intra-Allerød Cold Period, but with dating uncertainty that could place it as late as the onset of the Younger Dryas stadial. There is little-to-no time lag between climate transitions in Greenland and opposing changes in Antarctica. Our results lend support to fast acting inter-hemispheric coupling mechanisms, including recently proposed bipolar atmospheric teleconnections and/or rapid bipolar ocean teleconnections.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvan Romé ◽  
Ruza Ivanovic ◽  
Lauren Gregoire

<div> <p>Heinrich stadial 1 is one of the most enigmatic episodes in the study of the last deglaciation. Following the Lamospheric forcing increased driving the vast ice sheets over North America and Europe to melt. Yet, the climate in the North Atlantic remained cold for another 6000 years before eventually switching to a warm interstadial state in an event referred to as the Bolling warming. If there is now a consensus on the central role of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the mechanisms at stake are still highly debated, which is a real challenge when it comes to reproducing such behaviour in climate models.</p> <p>We studied this period looking spest Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~21 thousand years ago), orbital and atcifically at the feedback between the climate and the freshwater released from melting ice. From a transient record of meltwater discharge across the last deglaciation derived from the GLAC1D ice sheet reconstruction, we produced General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations of the LGM climate with different freshwater forcing. More precisely, we examined three notable melting events that happened during the early deglaciation: a local minimum of discharge at the LGM, a peak in meltwater discharging the North Atlantic signal and a peak in meltwater discharging in the Arctic signal. The three experiments generated very different patterns in AMOC and in North Atlantic climate, including alternatively warm, cold and oscillating regimes depending on the forcing.  </p> </div><div> <p>These results provide a good framework to analyse further the relationship between abrupt climate changes and meltwater discharge and to highlight the key parameters to trigger climate transitions in state-of-art climate models in the context of the last deglaciation. It is also a great opportunity to describe some mechanisms at stake with salt oscillations in the Atlantic, sea-ice cover and deep-water formation sites feedback and shifts in the subpolar gyre during interstadial-stadial transitions.</p> </div>


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 397-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Pedro ◽  
T. D. van Ommen ◽  
S. O. Rasmussen ◽  
V. I. Morgan ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Precise information on the relative timing of north-south climate variations is a key to resolving questions concerning the mechanisms that force and couple climate changes between the hemispheres. We present a new composite record made from five well-resolved Antarctic ice core records that robustly represents the timing of regional Antarctic climate change during the last deglaciation. Using fast variations in global methane gas concentrations as time markers, the Antarctic composite is directly compared to Greenland ice core records, allowing a detailed mapping of the inter-hemispheric sequence of climate changes. Consistent with prior studies the synchronized records show that warming (and cooling) trends in Antarctica closely match cold (and warm) periods in Greenland on millennial timescales. For the first time, we also identify a sub-millennial component to the inter-hemispheric coupling: within the Antarctic Cold Reversal the strongest Antarctic cooling occurs during the pronounced northern warmth of the Bølling; warming then resumes in Antarctica during the Intra-Allerød Cold Period i.e. prior to the Younger Dryas stadial. There is little-to-no time lag between climate transitions in Greenland and opposing changes in Antarctica. Our results lend support to fast acting inter-hemispheric coupling mechanisms including recently proposed bipolar atmospheric teleconnections and/or rapid bipolar ocean teleconnections.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad A. Hughen ◽  
Jonathan T. Overpeck ◽  
Scott J. Lehman ◽  
Michaele Kashgarian ◽  
John R. Southon ◽  
...  

Varved sediments of the tropical Cariaco Basin provide a new 14C calibration data set for the period of deglaciation (10,000 to 14,500 years before present: 10–14.5 cal ka bp). Independent evaluations of the Cariaco Basin calendar and 14C chronologies were based on the agreement of varve ages with the GISP2 ice core layer chronology for similar high-resolution paleoclimate records, in addition to 14C age agreement with terrestrial 14C dates, even during large climatic changes. These assessments indicate that the Cariaco Basin 14C reservoir age remained stable throughout the Younger Dryas and late Allerød climatic events and that the varve and 14C chronologies provide an accurate alternative to existing calibrations based on coral U/Th dates. The Cariaco Basin calibration generally agrees with coral-derived calibrations but is more continuous and resolves century-scale details of 14C change not seen in the coral records. 14C plateaus can be identified at 9.6, 11.4, and 11.7 14C ka bp, in addition to a large, sloping “plateau” during the Younger Dryas (∼10 to 11 14C ka bp). Accounting for features such as these is crucial to determining the relative timing and rates of change during abrupt global climate changes of the last deglaciation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Schmidely ◽  
Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles ◽  
Jochen Schmitt ◽  
Juhyeong Han ◽  
Lucas Silva ◽  
...  

Abstract. Deglaciations are characterized by the largest natural changes in methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations of the past 800 thousand years. Reconstructions of millennial to centennial-scale variability within these periods are mostly restricted to the last deglaciation. In this study, we present composite records of CH4 and N2O concentrations from the EPICA Dome C ice core covering the penultimate deglaciation at temporal resolutions of about ~ 100 years. Our data permit the identification of centennial-scale fluctuations standing out of the overall transition to interglacial levels. These features occurred in concert with reinvigorations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and northward shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The abrupt CH4 and N2O rises at about ~ 134 and ~ 128 thousand of years before present (hereafter ka BP) are assimilated to the fluctuations accompanying the Dansgaard–Oeschger events of the last glacial period, while rising N2O levels at ~ 130.5 ka BP are assimilated to a pattern of increasing N2O concentrations that characterized the end of Heinrich stadials. We suggest the 130.5-ka event to be driven by a partial reinvigoration of the AMOC. Overall, the CH4 and N2O fluctuations during the penultimate deglaciation exhibit modes of variability that are also found during the last deglaciation. However, trace gas responses may differ for similar type of climatic events, as exemplified by the reduced amplitude and duration of the 134-ka event compared to the fluctuations of the Bølling–Allerød during the last deglaciation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 983-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Capron ◽  
A. Landais ◽  
D. Buiron ◽  
A. Cauquoin ◽  
J. Chappellaz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Correct estimation of the firn lock-in depth is essential for correctly linking gas and ice chronologies in ice core studies. Here, two approaches to constrain the firn depth evolution in Antarctica are presented over the last deglaciation: outputs of a firn densification model, and measurements of δ15N of N2 in air trapped in ice core, assuming that δ15N is only affected by gravitational fractionation in the firn column. Since the firn densification process is largely governed by surface temperature and accumulation rate, we have investigated four ice cores drilled in coastal (Berkner Island, BI, and James Ross Island, JRI) and semi-coastal (TALDICE and EPICA Dronning Maud Land, EDML) Antarctic regions. Combined with available ice core air-δ15N measurements from the EPICA Dome C (EDC) site, the studied regions encompass a large range of surface accumulation rates and temperature conditions. Our δ15N profiles reveal a heterogeneous response of the firn structure to glacial–interglacial climatic changes. While firn densification simulations correctly predict TALDICE δ15N variations, they systematically fail to capture the large millennial-scale δ15N variations measured at BI and the δ15N glacial levels measured at JRI and EDML – a mismatch previously reported for central East Antarctic ice cores. New constraints of the EDML gas–ice depth offset during the Laschamp event (~41 ka) and the last deglaciation do not favour the hypothesis of a large convective zone within the firn as the explanation of the glacial firn model–δ15N data mismatch for this site. While we could not conduct an in-depth study of the influence of impurities in snow for firnification from the existing datasets, our detailed comparison between the δ15N profiles and firn model simulations under different temperature and accumulation rate scenarios suggests that the role of accumulation rate may have been underestimated in the current description of firnification models.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Weitzel ◽  
Heather Andres ◽  
Jean-Philippe Baudouin ◽  
Oliver Bothe ◽  
Andrew Dolman ◽  
...  

<div> <p>The increasing number of Earth system model simulations that try to simulate the climate during the last deglaciation (ca 20 to 10 thousand years ago) creates a demand for benchmarking against environmental proxy records synthesized for the same time period. Comparing these two data sources over a period with changing background conditions requires new methods for model-data comparison that incorporate multiple types and sources of uncertainty.</p> <p>Natural archives of past reality are distributed sparsely and non-uniformly in space and time. Signals that can be obtained are in addition perturbed by uncertainties related to dating, the relationship between the proxy sensor and environmental fields, the archive build-up, and measurement. On the other hand, paleoclimate simulations are four-dimensional, complete, and physically consistent representations of the climate. However, they are subject to errors due to model inadequacies and sensitivity to the forcing protocol, and will not reproduce any particular history of unforced variability. </p> </div><div> <p>We present a method for probabilistic, multivariate quantification of the deviation between paleo-data and paleoclimate simulations that draws on the strengths of both sources of information and accounts for the aforementioned uncertainties. We compare the shape and magnitude of orbital- and millennial-scale temperature fluctuations during the last deglaciation and compute metrics of regional and global model-data mismatches. We test our algorithm with an ensemble of published simulations of the deglaciation and simulations from the ongoing PalMod project, which aims at the simulation of the last glacial cycle with comprehensive Earth system models. These are evaluated against a compilation of temperature reconstructions from multiple archives. Our work aims for a standardized model-data comparison workflow that will be used in PalMod. This workflow can be extended subsequently with additional proxy data, new simulations, and improved representations of proxy uncertainties. </p> </div>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaëlle Landais ◽  
Emilie Capron ◽  
Valérie Masson-Delmotte ◽  
Samuel Toucanne ◽  
Rachael Rhodes ◽  
...  

Abstract. The last deglaciation represents the most recent example of natural global warming associated with large-scale climate changes. In addition to the long-term global temperature increase, the last deglaciation onset is punctuated by a sequence of abrupt changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Such interplay between orbital- and millennial-scale variability is widely documented in paleoclimatic records but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Limitations arise from the difficulty in constraining the sequence of events between external forcing, high- and low- latitude climate and environmental changes. Greenland ice cores provide sub-decadal-scale records across the last deglaciation and contain fingerprints of climate variations occurring in different regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we combine new ice d-excess and 17O-excess records, tracing changes in the mid-latitudes, with ice δ18O records of polar climate. Within Heinrich Stadial 1, we demonstrate a decoupling between climatic conditions in Greenland and those of the lower latitudes. While Greenland temperature remains mostly stable from 17.5 to 14.7 ka, significant change in the mid latitudes of northern Atlantic takes place at ~ 16.2 ka, associated with warmer and wetter conditions of Greenland moisture sources. We show that this climate modification is coincident with abrupt changes in atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations recorded in an Antarctic ice core. Our coherent ice core chronological framework and comparison with other paleoclimate records suggests a mechanism involving two-step freshwater fluxes in the North Atlantic associated with a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Adolphi ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Tobias Erhardt ◽  
R. Lawrence Edwards ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. During the last glacial period Northern Hemisphere climate was characterized by extreme and abrupt climate changes, so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events. Most clearly observed as temperature changes in Greenland ice-core records, their climatic imprint was geographically widespread. However, the temporal relation between DO-events in Greenland and other regions is uncertain due to the chronological uncertainties of each archive, limiting our ability to test hypotheses of synchronous change. On the contrary, the assumption of direct synchrony of climate changes forms the basis of many timescales. Here, we use cosmogenic radionuclides (10Be, 36Cl, 14C) to link Greenland ice-core records to U / Th-dated speleothems, quantify offsets between both timescales, and improve their absolute dating back to 45 000 years ago. This approach allows us to test the assumption that DO-events occurred synchronously between Greenland ice-core and tropical speleothem records at unprecedented precision. We find that the onset of DO-events occurs within synchronization uncertainties in all investigated records. Importantly, we demonstrate that there remain local discrepancies in the temporal development of rapid climate change for specific events and speleothems. These may be either related to the location of proxy records relative to the shifting atmospheric fronts or to underestimated U / Th-dating uncertainties. Our study thus highlights the potential for misleading interpretations of the Earth system when applying the common practice of climate wiggle-matching.


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