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The last deglaciation: timing the bipolar seesaw
Citation
Pedro, JB and van Ommen, TD and Rasmussen, SO and Morgan, VI and Chappellaz, J and Moy, AD and Masson-Delmotte, V and Delmotte, M, The last deglaciation: timing the bipolar seesaw, Climate of the Past, 7, (2) pp. 671-683. ISSN 1814-9324 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
DOI: doi:10.5194/cp-7-671-2011
Abstract
Precise information on the relative timing of north-south climate variations is a key to resolving questions concerning the mechanisms that force and couple climate changes between the hemispheres. We present a new composite record made from five well-resolved Antarctic ice core records that robustly represents the timing of regional Antarctic climate change during the last deglaciation. Using fast variations in global methane gas concentrations as time markers, the Antarctic composite is directly compared to Greenland ice core records, allowing a detailed mapping of the inter-hemispheric sequence of climate changes. Consistent with prior studies the synchronized records show that warming (and cooling) trends in Antarctica closely match cold (and warm) periods in Greenland on millennial timescales. For the first time, we also identify a sub-millennial component to the inter-hemispheric coupling. Within the Antarctic Cold Reversal the strongest Antarctic cooling occurs during the pronounced northern warmth of the Bølling. Warming then resumes in Antarctica, potentially as early as the Intra-Allerød Cold Period, but with dating uncertainty that could place it as late as the onset of the Younger Dryas stadial. There is little-to-no time lag between climate transitions in Greenland and opposing changes in Antarctica. Our results lend support to fast acting inter-hemispheric coupling mechanisms, including recently proposed bipolar atmospheric teleconnections and/or rapid bipolar ocean teleconnections.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Antarctic ice core records, deglaciation, Greenland ice core records |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Physical geography and environmental geoscience |
| Research Field: | Glaciology |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Pedro, JB (Dr Joel Pedro) |
| UTAS Author: | van Ommen, TD (Dr Tas van Ommen) |
| UTAS Author: | Morgan, VI (Mr Vincent Morgan) |
| UTAS Author: | Moy, AD (Dr Andrew Moy) |
| ID Code: | 76817 |
| Year Published: | 2011 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 101 |
| Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
| Deposited On: | 2012-03-14 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-25 |
| Downloads: | 456 View Download Statistics |
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