| 1. |
- Adolphi, Florian, et al.
(author)
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Connecting the Greenland ice-core and U/Th timescales via cosmogenic radionuclides : Testing the synchroneity of Dansgaard-Oeschger events
- 2018
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In: Climate of the Past. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9324 .- 1814-9332. ; 14:11, s. 1755-1781
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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. In contrast, 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 the two 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 with unprecedented precision. We find that the onset of DO events occurs within synchronization uncertainties in all investigated records. Importantly, we demonstrate that local discrepancies remain in the temporal development of rapid climate change for specific events and speleothems. These may either be 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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| 2. |
- Bronk Ramsey, Christopher, et al.
(author)
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Development of the Intcal Database
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In: Radiocarbon. - 0033-8222.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The IntCal family of radiocarbon (14C) calibration curves is based on research spanning more than three decades. The IntCal group have collated the 14C and calendar age data (mostly derived from primary publications with other types of data and meta-data) and, since 2010, made them available for other sorts of analysis through an open-access database. This has ensured transparency in terms of the data used in the construction of the ratified calibration curves. As the IntCal database expands, work is underway to facilitate best practice for new data submissions, make more of the associated metadata available in a structured form, and help those wishing to process the data with programming languages such as R, Python, and MATLAB. The data and metadata are complex because of the range of different types of archives. A restructured interface, based on the "IntChron"open-access data model, includes tools which allow the data to be plotted and compared without the need for export. The intention is to include complementary information which can be used alongside the main 14C series to provide new insights into the global carbon cycle, as well as facilitating access to the data for other research applications. Overall, this work aims to streamline the generation of new calibration curves.
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| 3. |
- Cooper, Alan, et al.
(author)
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A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago
- 2021
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 371:6531, s. 811-818
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth’s magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.
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| 4. |
- Cooper, Alan, et al.
(author)
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Response to comment on “A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago”
- 2021
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 374:6570
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Our paper about the impacts of the Laschamps Geomagnetic Excursion 42,000 years ago has provoked considerable scientific and public interest, particularly in the so-called Adams Event associated with the initial transition of the magnetic poles. Although we welcome the opportunity to discuss our new ideas, Hawks’ assertions of misrepresentation are especially disappointing given his limited examination of the material.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Jones, T. R., et al.
(author)
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Delayed maximum northern European summer temperatures during the Last Interglacial as a result of Greenland Ice Sheet melt
- 2017
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In: Geology. - 0091-7613. ; 45:1, s. 23-26
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Here we report a new quantitative mean July temperature reconstruction using non-biting midges (chironomids) from the Danish Last Interglacial (LIG) site Hollerup (spanning 127-116 ka). We find that peak mean July temperatures of 17.5 °C, similar to those of the present day (1961-1990 CE), were reached shortly before the onset of the regional Carpinus pollen zone. Through comparison to terrestrial and marine sequences we demonstrate that peak summer warmth took place some three millennia after the onset of LIG warming in Europe, a marked delay in line with records from the North Atlantic. Crucially, the warmest northern European summer temperatures appear to follow maximum Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss, implying that meltwater substantially reduced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and depressed European temperatures during the early part of the interglacial.
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| 7. |
- Palmer, Jonathan G., et al.
(author)
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Changes in El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions during the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1) chronozone revealed by New Zealand tree-rings
- 2016
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791. ; 153, s. 139-155
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The warming trend at the end of the last glacial was disrupted by rapid cooling clearly identified in Greenland (Greenland Stadial 1 or GS-1) and Europe (Younger Dryas Stadial or YD). This reversal to glacial-like conditions is one of the best known examples of abrupt change but the exact timing and global spatial extent remain uncertain. Whilst the wider Atlantic region has a network of high-resolution proxy records spanning GS-1, the Pacific Ocean suffers from a scarcity of sub-decadally resolved sequences. Here we report the results from an investigation into a tree-ring chronology from northern New Zealand aimed at addressing the paucity of data. The conifer tree species kauri (Agathis australis) is known from contemporary studies to be sensitive to regional climate changes. An analysis of a ‘historic’ 452-year kauri chronology confirms a tropical-Pacific teleconnection via the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We then focus our study on a 1010-year sub-fossil kauri chronology that has been precisely dated by comprehensive radiocarbon dating and contains a striking ring-width downturn between ∼12,500 and 12,380 cal BP within GS-1. Wavelet analysis shows a marked increase in ENSO-like periodicities occurring after the downturn event. Comparison to low- and mid-latitude Pacific records suggests a coherency with ENSO and Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation change during this period. The driver(s) for this climate event remain unclear but may be related to solar changes that subsequently led to establishment and/or increased expression of ENSO across the mid-latitudes of the Pacific, seemingly independent of the Atlantic and polar regions.
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| 8. |
- Rainsley, Eleanor, et al.
(author)
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Pleistocene glacial history of the New Zealand subantarctic islands
- 2019
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In: Climate of the Past. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9324 .- 1814-9332. ; 15:2, s. 423-448
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The New Zealand subantarctic islands of Auckland and Campbell, situated between the subtropical front and the Antarctic Convergence in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, provide valuable terrestrial records from a globally important climatic region. Whilst the islands show clear evidence of past glaciation, the timing and mechanisms behind Pleistocene environmental and climate changes remain uncertain. Here we present a multidisciplinary study of the islands-including marine and terrestrial geomorphological surveys, extensive analyses of sedimentary sequences, a comprehensive dating programme, and glacier flow line modelling-to investigate multiple phases of glaciation across the islands. We find evidence that the Auckland Islands hosted a small ice cap 384 000 +/- 26 000 years ago (384 +/- 26 ka), most likely during Marine Isotope Stage 10, a period when the subtropical front was reportedly north of its present-day latitude by several degrees, and consistent with hemispheric-wide glacial expansion. Flow line modelling constrained by field evidence suggests a more restricted glacial period prior to the LGM that formed substantial valley glaciers on the Campbell and Auckland Islands around 72-62 ka. Despite previous interpretations that suggest the maximum glacial extent occurred in the form of valley glaciation at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; similar to 21 ka), our combined approach suggests minimal LGM glaciation across the New Zealand subantarctic islands and that no glaciers were present during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR; similar to 15-13 ka). Instead, modelling implies that despite a regional mean annual air temperature depression of similar to 5 degrees C during the LGM, a combination of high seasonality and low precipitation left the islands incapable of sustaining significant glaciation. We suggest that northwards expansion of winter sea ice during the LGM and subsequent ACR led to precipitation starvation across the middle to high latitudes of the Southern Ocean, resulting in restricted glaciation of the subantarctic islands.
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| 9. |
- Rouillard, Alexandra, et al.
(author)
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Interpreting vegetation change in tropical arid ecosystems from sediment molecular fossils and their stable isotope compositions : A baseline study from the Pilbara region of northwest Australia
- 2016
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In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. - : Elsevier. - 0031-0182 .- 1872-616X. ; 459, s. 495-507
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Detection of source diagnostic molecular fossils (biomarkers) within sediments can provide valuable insights into the vegetation and climates of past environments. However, hot and arid regions offer particularly challenging interpretive frameworks for reconstructions because baseline data are scarce, organic matter is generally very low and in the inland tropics in particular, sediments are also often subject to flooding and drought. Here, we investigated whether biomarkers and compound-specific δ13C values could be extracted from a late Holocene sediment record from the Fortescue Marsh (Pilbara, northwest Australia) to allow interpretation of past catchment vegetation and hydroclimate. The low total carbon (TC) content (< 1.4%) was a major challenge for the molecular analyses over the ~ 2000 years old sequence. Nevertheless, they revealed that the dominant hydrocarbon features (e.g., long chain n-alkanes) indicative of terrestrial plants (e.g., C4 grasses; riparian and other C3 plants) encompassed the last ~ 1300 yrs and that low abundance of products from aquatic sources (e.g., n-C17) were detected in the uppermost sediments only when permanently inundated conditions prevailed (recent decades). Similarly, the lower δ13C values (i.e., a difference of − 2.3‰) of long chain n-alkanes in upper sediments reflected a vegetation response to the emergence of wetter conditions through the late Holocene in the region. Based on the diverging dominant source contributions obtained from the molecular distributions and arid based Bayesian mixing model (δ13C of n-C27–33 alkanes) results, less arid conditions may have favoured the input of 13C depleted n-alkanes from the Eucalyptus (C3) dominant riparian vegetation. The deepest sediments (< 700 CE) however, had a TC content of < 0.4%, and no organic compounds were detected, consistent with local and regional records of hyperarid conditions. These results demonstrate that n-alkanes can provide a molecular and stable isotopic fingerprint of important - and perhaps underappreciated - ecological processes in modern tropical arid environments for future paleoclimate investigations.
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| 10. |
- Thomas, Zoë A., et al.
(author)
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Tipping elements and amplified polar warming during the Last Interglacial
- 2020
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791. ; 233
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Irreversible shifts of large-scale components of the Earth system (so-called ‘tipping elements’) on policy-relevant timescales are a major source of uncertainty for projecting the impacts of future climate change. The high latitudes are particularly vulnerable to positive feedbacks that amplify change through atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions. Unfortunately, the short instrumental record does not capture the full range of past or projected climate scenarios (a situation particularly acute in the high latitudes). Natural archives from past periods warmer than present day, however, can be used to explore drivers and responses to forcing, and provide data against which to test models, thereby offering insights into the future. The Last Interglacial (129–116,000 years before present) — the warmest interglacial of the last 800,000 years — was the most recent period during which global temperatures were comparable with low-end 21st Century projections (up to 2 °C warmer, with temperature increase amplified over polar latitudes), providing a potentially useful analogue for future change. Substantial environmental changes happened during this time. Here we synthesise the nature and timing of potential high-latitude tipping elements during the Last Interglacial, including sea ice, extent of the boreal forest, permafrost, ocean circulation, and ice sheets/sea level. We also review the thresholds and feedbacks that likely operated through this period. Notably, substantial ice mass loss from Greenland, the West Antarctic, and possibly sectors of the East Antarctic drove a 6–9 m rise in global sea level. This was accompanied by reduced summer sea-ice extent, poleward-extended boreal forest, and reduced areas of permafrost. Despite current chronological uncertainties, we find that tipping elements in the high latitudes all experienced rapid and abrupt change (within 1–2 millennia of each other) across both hemispheres, while recovery to prior conditions took place over multi-millennia. Our synthesis demonstrates important feedback loops between tipping elements, amplifying polar and global change during the Last Interglacial. The high sensitivity and tight interconnections between polar tipping elements suggests that they could exhibit similar thresholds of vulnerability in the future, particularly if the aspirations of the Paris Agreement are not met.
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