Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 4 2 2008 10.5194/cpd-4-433-2008 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/433/2008/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/433/2008/cpd-4-433-2008.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/433/2008/cpd-4-433-2008.pdf 433 457 2008-04-09 Uniform climate development between the subtropical and subpolar Northeast Atlantic across marine isotope stage 11 J. P. Helmke jhelmke@ifm-geomar.de H. A. Bauch U. Röhl E. S. Kandiano Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, Wischhofstr. 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 2, 55131 Mainz, Germany University of Bremen, Postfach 330440, 28334 Bremen, Germany Proxy records from a core site off Northwest Africa were generated and compared with data from the subpolar Northeast Atlantic to unravel some main climatic features of interglacial marine isotope stage (MIS) 11 (423–362 ka). The records point to an almost 25 kyr lasting full interglacial period during stage 11 that was preceded by a considerably long glacial-interglacial transition (Termination V). Off NW Africa, a strong reduction of terrestrially derived iron input is noted after 420 ka suggesting a pronounced increase in continental humidity and vegetation cover over Northwest Africa. In analogy to the Holocene climate of the region, this early wet phase of MIS 11 was likely associated with enhanced influence of the West African monsoon system on the Saharan-Sahel region which led to both a reduction in trade wind intensity off NW Africa and the formation of sapropel S11 in the Mediterranean Sea. A detailed comparison with data from the subpolar North Atlantic indicates a remarkable coherent timing for the main environmental changes in both regions giving evidence for strong interglacial climate connectivity between the low and high latitude North Atlantic. Although our records of MIS 11 compare well with the Holocene in terms of some major climate characteristics there are distinct differences in the temporal evolution of each peak warm interval. This suggests that care should be taken when using MIS 11 as analogue to forecast future interglacial conditions. Adkins, J., deMenocal, P., and Eshel, G.: The "African humid period" and the record of marine upwelling from excess 230Th in Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C, Paleoceanography, PA4203, doi:10.1029/2005PA001200, 2006. Andersen, C., Koc, N., and Moros, M.: A highly unstable Holocenenext term climate in the subpolar North Atlantic: evidence from diatoms, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 23, 2155–2166, 2004. Bauch, H. A.: Paleoceanography of the North Atlantic Ocean (68°–76° N) during the past 450 ky deduced from planktic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes, in: Contributions to the Micropaleontology and Paleoceanography of the Northern North Atlantic, edited by: Hass, H. C. and Kaminski, M. A., Grzybowski Foundation Special Publication, 83–100, 1997. Bauch, H. A. and Erlenkeuser, H.: Implications of subarctic deepwater foraminiferal $\delta ^18$O for interpreting glacial-interglacial changes in sea level/ice volume and climate, in: Earth's climate and orbital eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 question, edited by: Droxler, A., Poore, A., Burkle, and Osterman, L., AGU Monograph Series, 87–102, 2003. Bauch, H. A., Erlenkeuser, H., Helmke, J. P., and Struck, U.: A paleoclimatic evaluation of marine oxygen isotope stage 11 in the high Northern Atlantic (Nordic seas), Global Planet, Change, 24(1), 27–39, 2000. Bauch, H. A., Erlenkeuser, H., Spielhagen, R. F., Struck, U., Matthiessen, J., Thiede, J., and Heinemeier, J.: A multiproxy reconstruction of the evolution of deep and surface waters in the Nordic seas over the last 30 000 years, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 20, 659–678, 2001. Bauch, H. A. and Kandiano, E. S.: Evidence for early warming and cooling in North Atlantic surface waters during the last interglacial, Paleoceanography, 22, PA1201, doi:10.1029/2005PA001252, 2007. Berger, A. and Loutre, M. F.: Modelling the climate response to astronomical and CO₂ forcings, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 323, 1–16, 1996. Berger, A. L.: Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements, Quaternary Res., 9(2), 139–167, 1978. Billups, K., Chaisson, W., Worsnopp, M., and Thunell, R.: Millennial-scale fluctuations in subtropical northwestern Atlantic durface ocean hydrography during the mid-Pleistocene, Paleoceanography, 19, PA2017, doi:10.1029/2003PA000990, 2004. Billups, K., Lindley, C., Fisler, J., and Martin, P.: Mid Pleistocene climate instability in the subtropical northwestern Atlantic, Global Planet. Change, 54, 251–262, 2006. Bond, G., Showers, W., Cheseby, M., Lotti, R., Almasi, P., deMenocal, P., Priore, P., Cullen, H., Hajdas, I., and Bonani, G.: A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial sediments, Science, 278, 1257–1266, 1997. Broecker, W. S. and Stocker, T. F.: The Holocene CO₂ rise: Anthropogenic or natural?, EOS Trans. AGU, 87(3), p 27, 2006. Carlson, T. N. and Prospero, J. M.: The large-scale movement of Saharan air outbreakes over the northern equatorial Atlantic, J. Appl. Meteorol., 11, 283–297, 1972. Crucifix, M. and Berger, A.: How long will our interglacial be?, EOS Trans. AGU, 87(35), 352–353, 2006. de Abreu, L., Abrantes, F., Shackleton, N., Tzedakis, P. C., McManus, J. F., Oppo, D. W., and Hall, M. A.: Ocean climate variability in the eastern North Atlantic during interglacial marine isotope stage 11: A partial analogue for the Holocene?, Paleoceanography, 20, PA3009, doi:10.1029/2004PA001091, 2005. deMenocal, P.: Plio-Pleistocene African climate, Science, 270, 53–59, 1995. deMenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., Adkins, J., Sarnthein, M., Baker, L., and Yarusinsky, M.: Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 19, 347–361, 2000. deMenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., and Sarnthein, M: Coherent high- and low-latitude climate during the Holocene warm period, Science, 288, 2198–2202, 2000. Eglinton, G., Bradshaw, S. A., Rosell, A., Sarnthein, M., Pflaumann, U., and Tiedemann, R.: Molecular record of secular sea surface temperature changes on 100-year timescale for glacial terminations I, II, and IV, Nature, 356, 423–425, 1992. EPICA: Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core, Nature, 429, 623–628, 2004. Firth, J. V., Blum, P., Lindblom, S., Michels, K., Sager, W. W., and Winkler, A.: Site 958, in: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, edited by: Firth, J. V., Initial Reports. College Station, TX, 3–13, 1996. Gansen, G. and Kroon, D.: The isotopic signature of planktonic foraminifera from NE Atlantic surface sediments: implications for the reconstruction of past oceanic conditions, J. Geol. Soc. London, 157, 693–699, 2000. Gasse, F.: Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, 189-211, 2000. Gasse, F., Tehet, R., Durand, A., Gibert, E., and Fontes, J. C.: The arid-humid transition in the Sahara and the Sahel during the last deglaciation, Nature, 346, 141–146, 1990. Hastenrath, S.: Climate and circulation of the tropics, D. Reidel, Boston, MA, 1985. Haug, G. H., Hughen, K. A., Sigman, D. M., Peterson, L. C., and Röhl, U.: Southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone through the Holocene, Science, 293, 1304–1308, 2001. Healey, S. and Thunell, R.: Millennial-scale variability in western subtropical North Atlantic surface and deep water circulation during marine isotope stages 11 and 12, Paleoceanography, 19, PA1013, doi:10.1029/2003PA000925, 2004. Hearty, P. J., Kindler, P., Cheng, H., and Edwards, R. L.: A +20 m middle Pleistocene sea-level highstand (Bermuda and the Bahamas) due to partial collapse of Antarctic ice, Geology, 27(4), 375–378, 1999. Helmke, J.P., and Bauch, H.A.: Comparison of glacial and interglacial conditions between the polar and the subpolar North Atlantic Region over the past five climate cycles, Paleoceanography, 18(2), 1036, 10.1029/2002PA000794, 2003. Hillaire-Marcel, C., Riser, J., Rognon, P., Petit-Maire, N., Rosso, J. C., and Soulie-Marche, I.: Radiocarbon chronology of Holocene hydrologic changes in northeastern Mali, Quaternary Res., 20, 145–164, 1983. Hodell, D. A., Charles, C. D., and Ninnemann, U. S.: Comparison of interglacial stages in the South Atlantic sector of the southern ocean for the past 450 kyr: implications for Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, Global Planet. Change, 24, 7–26, 2000. Imbrie, J., Hays, J. D., Martinson, D. G., McIntyre, A., Mix, A. C., Morley, J. J., Pisias, N. G., Prell, W. L., and Shackleton, N. J.: The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine $\delta ^18$O record, in: Milankovitch and Climate, edited by: Berger, A. L., Imbrie, J., Hays, J. D., Kukla, G., and Saltzman, B., D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, 269–305, 1984. Johnson, J. and Stevens, I.: A fine resolution model of the eastern North Atlantic between the Azores, the Canary Islands and the Gibraltar Strait, Deep-Sea Res., 47, 875–899, 2000. Jolly, D., Harrison, S. P., Damnati, B., and Bonnefille, R.: Simulated climate and biomes of Africa during the late quaternary: comparison with pollen and lake status data, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 17, 629–657, 1998. Kandiano, E. S. and Bauch, H. A.: Phase relationship and surface water mass change in the Northeast Atlantic during marine isotope stage 11 (MIS 11), Quaternary Res., 68, 445–455, 2007. King, A. L. and Howard, W. R.: Middle Pleistocene sea-surface temperature change in the southwest Pacific Ocean on orbital and suborbital scales, Geology, 28, 659–662, 2000. Koc, N., Jansen, E., and Haflidason, H.: Paleoceanographic reconstructions of surface ocean conditions in the greenland, Iceland and Norwegian Seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 12, 115–140, 1993. Koopmann, B.: Saharastaub in den Sedimenten des subtropisch-tropischen Nordatlantik während der letzten 20 000 Jahre, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, 108 pp., 1979. Kroon, D., Alexander, I., Little, M., Lourens, L.J., Matthewson, A., Robertson, A. H. F., and Sakamoto, T.: Oxygen isotope and sapropel stratigraphy in the eastern Mediterranean during the last 3.2 million years, in: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, edited by: Robertson, A. H. F., Emeis, K.-C., Richter, C., and Camerlenghi, A., College Station, TX, 181–189, 1998. Kutzbach, J. E. and Liu, Z.: Response of the African Monsoon to Orbital Forcing and Ocean Feedbacks in the Middle Holocene, Science, 278, 440–443, 1997. Lange, H.: Distribution of chlorite and kaolinite in eastern Atlantic sediments off North Africa, Sedimentology, 29, 427–432, 1982. Lourens, L. J.: Revised tuning of Ocean Drilling Program Site 964 and KC01B (Mediterranean) and implications for the $\delta ^18$O, tephra, calcareous nannofossil, and geomagnetic reversal chronologies of the past 1.1 Myr, Paleoceanography, 19, PA3010, doi:10.1029/2003PA000997, 2004. Loutre, M. F. and Berger, A.: Marine isotope stage 11 as an analogue for the present interglacial, Global Planet. Change, 36, 209–217, 2003. Marchal, O., Cacho, I., Stocker, T. F., Grimalt, J. O., Calvo, E., Martrat, B., Shackleton, N., Vautravers, M., Cortijo, E., van Kreveld, S., Andersson, C., Koc, N., Chapman, M., Sbaffi, L., Duplessy, J –C., Sarnthein, M., Duprat, J., and Jansen, E.: Apparent long-term cooling of the sea-surface in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Holocene, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 21, 455–483, 2002. Matthewson, A. P., Shimmield, G. B., Kroon, D., and Fallick, A. E.: A 300 kyr high-resolution aridity record of the North African continent, Paleoceanography, 10(3), 677–692, 1995. McManus, J. F., Oppo, D. W., Cullen, J. L., and Healey, S.: Marine isotope stage 11 (MIS 11): Amalog for Holocene and future climate?, in: Earth's climate and orbital eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 question, edited by: Droxler, A., Poore, R. Z., and Burckle, L., AGU Monograph Series, Washington, D.C., 69–85, 2003. Mercone, D., Thomson, J., Abu-Zied, R. H., Croudace, I. W., and Rohling, E. J.: High-resolution geochemical and micropalaeontological profiling of the most recent eastern Mediterranean sapropel, Mar. Geol., 177, 25–44, 2001. Oppo, D. W., McManus, J. F. and Cullen, J. L.: Abrupt climate events 500 000 to 340 000 years ago: evidence from subpolar North Atlantic sediments, Science, 279, 1335–1338, 1998. Parkin, D. W. and Shackleton, N.: Trade wind and temperature correlations down a deep-sea core off the Sahara coast, Nature, 245, 455–457, 1973. Pflaumann, U., Sarnthein, M., Ficken, K., Grothmann, A., and Winkler, A.: Variations in eolian and carbonate sedimentation, sea-surface temperature, and productivity over the last 3 m.y. at Site 958 off Northwest Africa, in: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, edited by: Firth, J. V., College Station, TX, 3–16, 1998. Prospero, J. M. and Lamb, P. J.: African Droughts and Dust Transport to the Caribbean: Climate Change Implications, Science, 302, 1024–1027, 2003. Röhl, U. and Abrams, L. J.: High-resolution, downhole, and nondestructive core measurements from Sites 999 and 1001 in the Caribbean Sea: application to the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum, in: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, edited by: Leckie, R. M., Sigurdsson, H., Acton G. D., and Draper, G., College Station, Texas, 191–203, 2000. Rohling, E. J., Fenton, M., Jorissen, F. J., Bertrand, P., Ganssen, G., and Caulet, J. P.: Magnitudes of sea-level lowstands of the past 500 000 years, Nature, 394, 162–165, 1998. Rohling, E. J., Jorissen, F. J., and De Stigter, H. C.: 200 year interruption of Holocene sapropel formation in the Adriatic Sea, J. Micropalaeontology, 16, 97–108, 1997. Ruddiman, W. F.: The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago, Climatic Change, 61, 261–263, 2003. Rudiman, W. F.: The early anthropogenic hypothesis a year later, Climatic Change, 69, 427–434, 2005. Ruddiman, W. F.: The early antropogenic hypothesis: Challenges and responses, Rev. Geophys., 45, RG4001, doi:10.1029/2006RG000207, 2007. Ruddiman, W. F. and Janecek, T.: Pliocene-Pleistocene biogenic and terrigenous fluxes at equatorial Atlantic Sites 662, 663, and 664, in: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, edited by: Baldauf, G., Heat, G. R., Ruddiman, W. F., and Sarnthein, M., College Station, TX, 211–240, 1989. Sarnthein, M., Thiede, J., Pflaumann, U., Erlenkeuser, H., Fütterer, H., Koopmann, B., Lange, H., and Seibold, E.: Atmospheric and ocean circulation patterns off Northwest Africa during the past 25 million years, in: Geology of the Northwest African continental margin, editd by: von Rad, U., Hinz, K., Sarnthein, M., and Seibold, E., Springer Verlag, Berlin, 545–604, 1982. Schütz, L., Jaenicke, R., and Pietrek, H.: Saharan dust transport over the North Atlantic Ocean, Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper, 186, 87–100, 1981. Shackleton, N.: Oxygen isotope analysis and Pleistocene temperature reassessed, Nature, 215, 15–17, 1967. Siegenthaler, U. Stocker, T. F., Monnin, E., Lüthi, D., Schwander, J., Stauffer, B., Raynaud, D., Barnola, J-M., Fischer, H., Masson-Delmotte, V., and Jouzel, J.: Stable carbon cycle-climate relationship during the Late Pleistocene, Science, 310, 1313–1317, 2005. Stuut, J-B. W., Zabel, M., Ratmeyer, V., Helmke, P., Schefuß, E., Lavik, G., and Schneider, R. R.: Provenance of present-day eolian dust collected off NW Africa, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D04202, doi:10.1029/2004JD005161, 2005. Thunell, R. C., Poli, M. S., and Rio, D.: Changes in deep and intermediate water properties in the western North Atlantic during marine isotope stages 11-12: evidence from ODP Leg 172, Mar. Geol., 189, 63–77, 2002. Tiedemann, R., Sarnthein, M., and Shackleton, N. J.: Astronomic timescale for the Pliocene Atlantic $\delta ^18$O and dust flux of Ocean Drilling Program site 659, Paleoceanography, 9(4), 619–638, 1994. Weldeab, S., Lea, D. W., Schneider, R. R., and Andersen, N.: 155 000 years of West African Monsoon and ocean thermal evolution, Science, 316, 1303–1307, 2007.