TY - JOUR AU - P. Tzedakis AU - R. Drysdale AU - V. Margari AU - L. Skinner AU - L. Menviel AU - R. Rhodes AU - A. Taschetto AU - D. Hodell AU - S. Crowhurst AU - J. Hellstrom AU - A. Fallick AU - J. Grimalt AU - J. McManus AU - B. Martrat AU - Z. Mokeddem AU - F. Parrenin AU - E. Regattieri AU - K. Roe AU - G. Zanchetta AB -

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.

BT - Nature Communications DA - 2018/10/12 N2 -

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.

PY - 2018 SN - 2041-1723 EP - 4235 T2 - Nature Communications TI - Enhanced climate instability in the North Atlantic and southern Europe during the Last Interglacial UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06683-3 VL - 9 ER -