Synchronous centennial abrupt events in the ocean and atmosphere during the last deglaciation
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Date
25/09/2015Author
Grant ID
NE/M004619/1
PCIG14-GA-2013-631752
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Antarctic ice-core data reveal that the atmosphere experienced abrupt centennial increases in CO2 concentration during the last deglaciation (~18-11 thousand years, ka). Establishing the role of ocean circulation in these changes requires high-resolution, accurately-dated marine records. Here we report radiocarbon data from uranium-thorium dated deep-sea corals in the Equatorial Atlantic and Drake Passage over the last 25 ka. Two major deglacial radiocarbon increases occurred in phase with centennial atmospheric CO2 rises at 14.8 ka and 11.7 ka. We interpret these radiocarbon-enriched signals to represent two short-lived (<500 years) ‘overshoot’ events with Atlantic meridional overturning stronger than modern. These results provide compelling evidence for a close coupling of ocean circulation and centennial climate events during the last deglaciation
Citation
Chen , T , Robinson , L F , Burke , A , Southon , J , Spooner , P , Morris , P J & Ng , H C 2015 , ' Synchronous centennial abrupt events in the ocean and atmosphere during the last deglaciation ' , Science , vol. 349 , no. 6255 , pp. 1537-1541 . https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac6159
Publication
Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0036-8075Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All Rights Reserved. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aac6159
Description
This study was funded by the European Research Council, the Philip Leverhulme Trust, the National Science Foundation and a Marie Curie Reintegration Grant.Collections
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