Two modes of glacial climate during the late stage 5 identified in Greenland ice core records

Abstract. From a detailed analysis of marine and terrestrial aerosol tracers in the NGRIP ice core we identified two distinct glacial atmospheric flow patterns. The climate transition from Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5) to MIS 4, at approximately 75 kyr BP, marks a shift between two different atmospheric flow regimes. Before this transition, during MIS 5d-a, the state of atmospheric flow was alternating between the two modes of different flow patterns, while a more persistent flow pattern was prevailing through the glacial period afterwards. These changes are accompanied by strong changes in an independent Greenland ice core proxy, namely the deuterium excess from the GRIP ice core, reflecting changes in the hydrological cycle and moisture source temperatures as well. The changes in atmospheric flow pattern are correlated with changed extent of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) deposition in the North Atlantic, indicating that the state of the atmospheric flow was highly sensitive to the waxing and waning of the Laurentide ice sheet.

[1]  R. Röthlisberger,et al.  Glacial/interglacial changes in mineral dust and sea‐salt records in polar ice cores: Sources, transport, and deposition , 2007 .

[2]  D. Rousseaua,et al.  What is what in the ice and the ocean ? , 2006 .

[3]  H. Fischer,et al.  A Continuous IC Glaciochemical Record of the last Glacial Period from the NGRIP Ice Core , 2005 .

[4]  J. Jouzel,et al.  GRIP Deuterium Excess Reveals Rapid and Orbital-Scale Changes in Greenland Moisture Origin , 2005, Science.

[5]  J Schwander,et al.  High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period , 2004, Nature.

[6]  D. Bromwich,et al.  Polar MM5 Simulations of the Winter Climate of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the LGM , 2004 .

[7]  Ina Tegen,et al.  Modeling the mineral dust aerosol cycle in the climate system , 2003 .

[8]  N. Shackleton,et al.  Marine Isotope Substage 5e and the Eemian Interglacial , 2003 .

[9]  J. Steffensen,et al.  Continuous record of microparticle concentration and size distribution in the central Greenland NGRIP ice core during the last glacial period , 2003 .

[10]  K. Lambeck,et al.  Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records , 2002 .

[11]  Dorthe Dahl-Jensen,et al.  Oxygen isotope and palaeotemperature records from six Greenland ice‐core stations: Camp Century, Dye‐3, GRIP, GISP2, Renland and NorthGRIP , 2001 .

[12]  C. Waelbroecka,et al.  Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records , 2001 .

[13]  F. Grousset,et al.  Characterization of late glacial continental dust in the Greenland Ice Core Project ice core , 2000 .

[14]  E. Wolff,et al.  Timescales for dust variability in the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core in the last 100,000 years , 1999 .

[15]  M. Chapman,et al.  Global ice-volume fluctuations, North Atlantic ice-rafting events, and deep-ocean circulation changes between 130 and 70 ka , 1999 .

[16]  J. Lowe,et al.  Isotopic &events' in the GRIP ice core: a stratotype for the Late Pleistocene , 1999 .

[17]  M. Legrand,et al.  Primary aerosol (sea salt and soil dust) deposited in Greenland ice during the last climatic cycle: Comparison with east Antarctic records , 1997 .

[18]  Francis E. Grousset,et al.  Asian provenance of glacial dust (stage 2) in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 Ice Core , 1997 .

[19]  L. D. Meeker,et al.  Major features and forcing of high‐latitude northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation using a 110,000‐year‐long glaciochemical series , 1997 .

[20]  G. Kukla,et al.  How long and how stable was the last interglacial , 1997 .

[21]  W. Broecker,et al.  High-resolution climate records from the North Atlantic during the last interglacial , 1994, Nature.

[22]  R. Souchez.  Climate instability during the last interglacial period recorded in the GRIP ice core , 1993 .

[23]  Jean Jouzel,et al.  Deuterium excess in an East Antarctic ice core suggests higher relative humidity at the oceanic surface during the last glacial maximum , 1982, Nature.

[24]  M. Herron.  Impurity sources Of F−, Cl−, NO3 − and SO4 2− in Greenland and Antarctic precipitation , 1982 .

[25]  G. Woillard.  Abrupt end of the last interglacial s.s. in north-east France , 1979, Nature.

[26]  N. Shackleton.  The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records , 1969, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.