Title | Enhanced climate instability in the North Atlantic and southern Europe during the Last Interglacial |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Authors | Tzedakis, PC, Drysdale, RN, Margari, V, Skinner, LC, Menviel, L, Rhodes, RH, Taschetto, AS, Hodell, DA, Crowhurst, SJ, Hellstrom, JC, Fallick, AE, Grimalt, JO, McManus, JF, Martrat, B, Mokeddem, Z, Parrenin, F, Regattieri, E, Roe, K, Zanchetta, G |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 9 |
Issue | 1 |
Pagination | 4235 |
Date Published | 2018/10/12 |
ISBN Number | 2041-1723 |
Abstract | Considerable ambiguity remains over the extent and nature of millennial/centennial-scale climate instability during the Last Interglacial (LIG). Here we analyse marine and terrestrial proxies from a deep-sea sediment sequence on the Portuguese Margin and combine results with an intensively dated Italian speleothem record and climate-model experiments. The strongest expression of climate variability occurred during the transitions into and out of the LIG. Our records also document a series of multi-centennial intra-interglacial arid events in southern Europe, coherent with cold water-mass expansions in the North Atlantic. The spatial and temporal fingerprints of these changes indicate a reorganization of ocean surface circulation, consistent with low-intensity disruptions of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The amplitude of this LIG variability is greater than that observed in Holocene records. Episodic Greenland ice melt and runoff as a result of excess warmth may have contributed to AMOC weakening and increased climate instability throughout the LIG. |
URL | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06683-3 |
Short Title | Nature Communications |