International audienceClimate and ocean ecosystem variability has been well recognized during the twentieth century but it is unclear if modern ocean biogeochemistry is susceptible to the large, abrupt shifts that characterized the Late Quaternary. Time series from marine sediments off Peru show an abrupt centennial-scale biogeochemical regime shift in the early nineteenth century, of much greater magnitude and duration than present day multi-decadal variability. A rapid expansion of the subsurface nutrient-rich, oxygen-depleted waters resulted in the present-day higher biological productivity, including pelagic fish. The shift was likely driven by a northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the South Pacific Subtropical High to their present day locations, coupled with a strengthening of Walker circulation, towards the end of the Little Ice Age. These findings reveal the potential for large reorganizations in tropical Pacific climate with immediate effects on ocean biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem structure

We reconstructed a high‐resolution, alkenone‐based sea surface temperature (SST) record spanning the last ca. 150 years, from a sediment core retrieved within the main upwelling zone off Peru. A conspicuous SST decline is evidenced since the 1950s despite interdecadal SST variability. Instrumental SST data and reanalysis of ECMWF ERA 40 winds suggest that the recent coastal cooling corresponds mainly to an intensification of alongshore winds and associated increase of upwelling in spring. Consistently, both proxy and instrumental data evidence increased productivity in phase with the SST cooling. Our data expand on previous reports on recent SST cooling in other Eastern Boundary upwelling systems and support scenarios that relate coastal upwelling intensification to global warming. Yet, further investigations are needed to assess the role of different mechanisms and forcings (enhanced local winds vs. spin‐up of the South Pacific High Pressure cell).

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International audienceSedimentological studies including X-ray digital analyses, mineralogy, inorganic contents, and organic geochemistry on cores of laminated sediments accumulated in the oxygen minimum zone of the central Peruvian margin reveal variable oceanographic and climate conditions during the last 500 yr. Coherent upcore variations in sedimentological and geochemical markers in box cores taken off Pisco (B0405-6) and Callao (B0405-13) indicate that variability in the climate proxies examined has regional significance. Most noteworthy is a large shift in proxies at ~1820 AD, as determined by ²¹⁰Pb and ¹⁴C radiometric dating. This shift is characterized by an increase in total organic carbon (TOC) in parallel with an abrupt increase in the enrichment factor for molybdenum Mo indicating a regional intensification of redox conditions, at least at the sediment water interface. In addition there was lower terrestrial input of quartz, feldspar and clays to the margin. Based on these results, we interpret that during several centuries prior to 1820, which corresponds to the little ice age (LIA), the northern Humboldt current region was less productive and experienced higher terrestrial input related to more humid conditions on the continent. These conditions were probably caused by a southward displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone and the subtropical high pressure cell during the LIA. Since 1870, increases in TOC and terrigenous mineral fluxes suggest an increase of wind-driven upwelling and higher productivity. These conditions continued to intensify during the late 20th century, as shown by instrumental records of wind forcing

International audienceOxygen minimum zones (OMZ) have expanded in all tropical oceans during the last 50 years resulting in habitat contraction and considerable changes in marine biogeochemistry. However, for a better understanding of the OMZ dynamics under the current climate change, two questions are relevant: 1) how do the magnitude and temporal changes in oceanic dissolved oxygen of the last few decades compare to the natural variability on longer timescales, and 2) what were the local and remote factors driving OMZ changes in the past. In the present study we use a stacked record covering the last 25 kyr from the Eastern Tropical South Pacific (ETSP) OMZ to reconstruct changes in oxygenation and productivity. We use a suite of proxies including the presence of laminations, redox sensitive metals (U, Mo, Re, Ni and Cu), total organic carbon and δ¹⁵N measurements. Water column denitrification and sediment redox conditions show pronounced centennial to millennial-scale variability during the last 25 kyr, with oxygenation levels as low as at present. Global cold periods at different timescales such as the Last Glacial Maximum (23–19 kyr BP) and the Little Ice Age (1500–1850 AD) were associated with a weak OMZ and low export production, while warm intervals such as the deglaciation, part of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the last 100 years are associated with a stronger OMZ and high export production. Water column denitrification and sediment redox conditions were strongly coupled during the last 25 kyr BP apart from one remarkable exception: during the Antarctic Cold Reversal, sediments were less reducing but the water column denitrification was high resulting in a strong but shallow OMZ. This may have been produced by an enhanced Antarctic Intermediate Water flow. Contrary to our expectations and modeling predictions for the next few decades, we observe a weak ETSP-OMZ during the warm mid-Holocene, which may have been the result of a stronger Walker Circulation that brought oxygen-rich waters to intermediate depths off Peru via Equatorial undercurrents. In combination with other paleoceanographic reconstructions, our results show that oxygenation variability in the ETSP-OMZ was influenced by ocean circulation changes in the Tropical Pacific, high latitude oceanographic and climatic changes, and local productivity

In this study, we present a Holocene rainfall index based on three high‐resolution speleothem records from the Western Mediterranean, a region under the influence of the westerly winds belt modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). On centennial to millennial timescales, we show that the North Atlantic ice‐rafting events were likely associated with negative NAO‐like conditions during the Early Holocene and the Late Holocene. However, our data reveal that this is not clearly the case for the mid‐Holocene ice‐rafting events, during which we also show evidence of positive NAO‐like patterns from other paleo‐oceanographic and paleo‐atmospheric data. Hence, contradictory mechanisms involving prolonged periods of both north and south shifts of the westerly winds belt (resembling positive and negative NAO‐like patterns) might at least partially trigger or amplify the ice‐rafting events and the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

New pollen data from a core at Lagoa do Caçó, Maranhão state, Brazil (2°58′S 43°25′W; 120 m elevation), show higher frequencies of Podocarpus at the end of the Pleistocene than today. The increase in Podocarpus, which follows the successive increase of various pioneer species such as Didymopanax, Melastomataceae/Combretaceae, and Cecropia, implies a progressive late-glacial increase of moist and cool climatic conditions. A comparable increase in Podocarpus is found in other lowland records in Amazonia. A review of published pollen data from Amazonia suggests that the moisture source was from the southeast. By contrast, present-day moisture comes from the tropical Atlantic and from the Amazon basin, with its convective precipitation. The likely cause for the southeastern moisture source between ca. 15,000 and 14,500 cal yr B.P. was enhanced polar (Antarctic) advection that reached low latitudes and maintained year-round the meteorological equator in its austral-winter position at northern latitudes or reduced drastically its southward summer displacement. This hypothesis is consistent with marine and ice core records.

Abstract. In the eastern Pacific, lithogenic input to the ocean responds to variations in the atmospheric and oceanic system and their teleconnections over different timescales. Atmospheric (e.g., wind fields), hydrological (e.g., fresh water plumes) and oceanic (e.g., currents) conditions determine the transport mode and the amount of lithogenic material transported from the continent to the continental shelf. Here, we present the grain size distribution of a composite record of two laminated sediment cores retrieved from the Peruvian continental shelf that record the last ∼ 1000 years at a sub-decadal to centennial time-series resolution. We propose novel grain size indicators of wind intensity and fluvial input that allow reconstructing the oceanic–atmospheric variability modulated by sub-decadal to centennial changes in climatic conditions. Four grain size modes were identified. Two are linked to aeolian inputs (M3: ∼ 54; M4: ∼ 91 µm on average), the third is interpreted as a marker of sediment discharge (M2: ∼ 10 µm on average), and the last is without an associated origin (M1: ∼ 3 µm). The coarsest components (M3 and M4) dominated during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Current Warm Period (CWP) periods, suggesting that aeolian transport increased as a consequence of surface wind stress intensification. In contrast, M2 displays an opposite behavior, exhibiting an increase in fluvial terrigenous input during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in response to more humid conditions associated with El Niño-like conditions. Comparison with other South American paleoclimate records indicates that the observed changes are driven by interactions between meridional displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the South Pacific Subtropical High (SPSH) and Walker circulation at decadal and centennial timescales.