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Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level

Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level
Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level
Our current understanding of ocean–atmosphere–cryosphere interactions at ice-age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent (last) glacial–interglacial transition1, 2, 3, Termination I (T-I). But the extent to which T-I is representative of previous terminations remains unclear. Testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control. However, such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination (T-II), which culminated in a sea-level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present4. Here we show that Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent North Atlantic cold episode5, 6, occurred between 135 ± 1 and 130 ± 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea-level rise during T-II. Our conclusions are based on new and existing6, 7, 8, 9 data for T-II and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single, radiometrically constrained chronology. The HS11 cold episode5, 6 punctuated T-II and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse, which predominantly entered the North Atlantic Ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial–interglacial sea-level rise8, 9. We conclude that, possibly in response to stronger insolation and CO2 forcing earlier in T-II, the relationship between climate and ice-volume changes differed fundamentally from that of T-I. In T-I, the major sea-level rise clearly post-dates3, 10, 11 Heinrich Stadial 1. We also find that HS11 coincided with sustained Antarctic warming, probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response12, and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted Antarctic ice-sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea-level peak.
0028-0836
197-201
Marino, G.
d2f4dc29-b2e7-4cf0-8abd-6fd855bfab81
Rohling, E.J.
a2a27ef2-fcce-4c71-907b-e692b5ecc685
Rodríguez-Sanz, L.
96063bec-9dd9-4386-89f6-f6c9d13a8bc4
Grant, K.M.
4258644a-ecaa-48cc-baad-739ced4bd945
Heslop, D.
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Roberts, A.P.
4497b436-ef02-428d-a46e-65a22094ba52
Stanford, J.D.
ec911ce0-c35d-4fd8-9479-b142dfaf1c2e
Yu, J.
f0cc5bca-6305-4361-9b00-67975b8a1d2e
Marino, G.
d2f4dc29-b2e7-4cf0-8abd-6fd855bfab81
Rohling, E.J.
a2a27ef2-fcce-4c71-907b-e692b5ecc685
Rodríguez-Sanz, L.
96063bec-9dd9-4386-89f6-f6c9d13a8bc4
Grant, K.M.
4258644a-ecaa-48cc-baad-739ced4bd945
Heslop, D.
11d150c2-95ed-4403-be36-005242abe22c
Roberts, A.P.
4497b436-ef02-428d-a46e-65a22094ba52
Stanford, J.D.
ec911ce0-c35d-4fd8-9479-b142dfaf1c2e
Yu, J.
f0cc5bca-6305-4361-9b00-67975b8a1d2e

Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Grant, K.M., Heslop, D., Roberts, A.P., Stanford, J.D. and Yu, J. (2015) Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level. Nature, 522 (7555), 197-201. (doi:10.1038/nature14499).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Our current understanding of ocean–atmosphere–cryosphere interactions at ice-age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent (last) glacial–interglacial transition1, 2, 3, Termination I (T-I). But the extent to which T-I is representative of previous terminations remains unclear. Testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control. However, such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination (T-II), which culminated in a sea-level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present4. Here we show that Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent North Atlantic cold episode5, 6, occurred between 135 ± 1 and 130 ± 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea-level rise during T-II. Our conclusions are based on new and existing6, 7, 8, 9 data for T-II and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single, radiometrically constrained chronology. The HS11 cold episode5, 6 punctuated T-II and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse, which predominantly entered the North Atlantic Ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial–interglacial sea-level rise8, 9. We conclude that, possibly in response to stronger insolation and CO2 forcing earlier in T-II, the relationship between climate and ice-volume changes differed fundamentally from that of T-I. In T-I, the major sea-level rise clearly post-dates3, 10, 11 Heinrich Stadial 1. We also find that HS11 coincided with sustained Antarctic warming, probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response12, and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted Antarctic ice-sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea-level peak.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 10 June 2015
Published date: 10 June 2015
Organisations: Paleooceanography & Palaeoclimate

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 382224
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/382224
ISSN: 0028-0836
PURE UUID: 474a6c6d-7ed2-4e00-8732-eced2ba1c9ec
ORCID for E.J. Rohling: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5349-2158

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Date deposited: 30 Sep 2015 09:44
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:47

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Contributors

Author: G. Marino
Author: E.J. Rohling ORCID iD
Author: L. Rodríguez-Sanz
Author: K.M. Grant
Author: D. Heslop
Author: A.P. Roberts
Author: J.D. Stanford
Author: J. Yu

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