The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Late glacial–holocene record of Southern Hemisphere westerly wind dynamics from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean

Late glacial–holocene record of Southern Hemisphere westerly wind dynamics from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean
Late glacial–holocene record of Southern Hemisphere westerly wind dynamics from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean
The Southern Hemisphere westerly wind belt (SHWW) is a major feature of Southern Hemisphere, midlatitude climate that is closely linked with the sequestration and release of CO2 in the Southern Ocean. Past changes in the strength and position of this wind belt are poorly resolved, particularly across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, a time period associated with fluctuations in atmospheric temperatures and CO2 levels. We used dust geochemistry, particle size measurements, and paleoecological analyses from a peat sequence in the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean, to describe changes in the SHWW between 16.0 and 6.5 ka (thousands of years before CE 1950). Wind strength was low at ~51°S before and during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR, 14.9–13.0 ka), intensified between 13.1 and 12.1 ka as atmospheric temperatures increased, and then weakened, reaching a minimum between 12.1 and 10.9 ka during the Early Holocene thermal maximum. Northwesterly air masses became more dominant from 12.0 to 10.2 ka, and wind strength remained low until our record was affected by a storm surge or tsunami ca. 7.8 ka. These data indicate a southward shift in the latitude of the SHWW, from north of 51°S prior to and during the ACR, at ~51°S before the onset of the Holocene, and south of 51°S during the early Holocene thermal maximum. This pattern suggests that the latitude of the SHWW was coupled with atmospheric temperatures through the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.
0091-7613
880-885
Monteath, Alistair
d9499e7f-b5d9-48ad-87d8-3c2a74e40fa9
Hughes, Paul
14f83168-b203-4a91-a850-8c48535dc31b
Cooper, Matthew
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
Groff, Dulcinea
37bb1e43-15de-4b08-bbf0-10db7e092182
Scaife, Rob
b258b25f-818e-4f20-aad8-bc17e170e6b5
Hodgson, Dominic
d2bacec5-01d1-4085-bc4d-f3e7dc529cc3
Monteath, Alistair
d9499e7f-b5d9-48ad-87d8-3c2a74e40fa9
Hughes, Paul
14f83168-b203-4a91-a850-8c48535dc31b
Cooper, Matthew
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
Groff, Dulcinea
37bb1e43-15de-4b08-bbf0-10db7e092182
Scaife, Rob
b258b25f-818e-4f20-aad8-bc17e170e6b5
Hodgson, Dominic
d2bacec5-01d1-4085-bc4d-f3e7dc529cc3

Monteath, Alistair, Hughes, Paul, Cooper, Matthew, Groff, Dulcinea, Scaife, Rob and Hodgson, Dominic (2022) Late glacial–holocene record of Southern Hemisphere westerly wind dynamics from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean. Geology, 50 (8), 880-885. (doi:10.1130/g49805.1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Southern Hemisphere westerly wind belt (SHWW) is a major feature of Southern Hemisphere, midlatitude climate that is closely linked with the sequestration and release of CO2 in the Southern Ocean. Past changes in the strength and position of this wind belt are poorly resolved, particularly across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, a time period associated with fluctuations in atmospheric temperatures and CO2 levels. We used dust geochemistry, particle size measurements, and paleoecological analyses from a peat sequence in the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean, to describe changes in the SHWW between 16.0 and 6.5 ka (thousands of years before CE 1950). Wind strength was low at ~51°S before and during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR, 14.9–13.0 ka), intensified between 13.1 and 12.1 ka as atmospheric temperatures increased, and then weakened, reaching a minimum between 12.1 and 10.9 ka during the Early Holocene thermal maximum. Northwesterly air masses became more dominant from 12.0 to 10.2 ka, and wind strength remained low until our record was affected by a storm surge or tsunami ca. 7.8 ka. These data indicate a southward shift in the latitude of the SHWW, from north of 51°S prior to and during the ACR, at ~51°S before the onset of the Holocene, and south of 51°S during the early Holocene thermal maximum. This pattern suggests that the latitude of the SHWW was coupled with atmospheric temperatures through the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.

Text
g49805.1 - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 25 February 2022
Published date: 1 August 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: We thank A. Long, M. Bentley, and P. Stone for access to the Hooker’s Point peat core. The Shack-leton Trust and the Falkland Islands Department of Mineral Resources supported our field work. D. McCarthy made geologic mapping available. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standard was purchased with a Quaternary Research Association (QRA) Research Fund grant. P. Morgan ran additional X-ray fluorescence analyses. S. Roberts, M. Edwards, and two anonymous reviewers commented on an earlier manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022. Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 468894
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468894
ISSN: 0091-7613
PURE UUID: fbf01a71-ce77-4abf-9f11-9c05ea5e68e0
ORCID for Paul Hughes: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-382X
ORCID for Matthew Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2130-2759

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 31 Aug 2022 16:53
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:52

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Alistair Monteath
Author: Paul Hughes ORCID iD
Author: Matthew Cooper ORCID iD
Author: Dulcinea Groff
Author: Rob Scaife
Author: Dominic Hodgson

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×