The Younger Dryas—an intrinsic feature of late Pleistocene climate change at millennial timescales

Sima, Adriana; Paul, André; Schulz, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.03.026

Cited by 50 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our data further indicate that (1) the duration and frequency of the millennial-scale events change systematically throughout the course of a glacial period, and (2) that the general nature of these changes is reproducible for the last two glacial periods. These observations suggest a link between ice volume, which could have changed in broadly the same fashion during the last two glacial periods, and the character, duration and pacing of millennial-scale events, consistent with recent simulation results that the mean climate state represented by global ice-volume can pace climatic events 8,9 . Therefore, ice volume, affecting ice dynamics, probably with feedbacks affecting atmospheric and oceanic circulation, may have a significant influence on GIS and CIS events.…”

supporting

confidence: 88%

“…Our understanding of these factors remains incomplete, however, owing to gaps in the record of monsoon history over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. In particular, missing sections have hampered our ability to test ideas about orbital-scale controls on the monsoon [5][6][7] , the causes of millennial-scale events 8,9 and relationships between changes in the monsoon and climate in other regions. Here we present an absolute-dated oxygen isotope record from Sanbao cave, central China, that completes a Chinesecave-based record of the strength of the East Asian monsoon that covers the past 224,000 years.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years

Wang

Cheng

Edwards

et al. 2008

Nature

1,659

109

1,268

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High-resolution speleothem records from China have provided insights into the factors that control the strength of the East Asian monsoon [1][2][3][4] . Our understanding of these factors remains incomplete, however, owing to gaps in the record of monsoon history over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. In particular, missing sections have hampered our ability to test ideas about orbital-scale controls on the monsoon [5][6][7] , the causes of millennial-scale events 8,9 and relationships between changes in the monsoon and climate in other regions. Here we present an absolute-dated oxygen isotope record from Sanbao cave, central China, that completes a Chinesecave-based record of the strength of the East Asian monsoon that covers the past 224,000 years. The record is dominated by 23,000-year-long cycles that are synchronous within dating errors with summer insolation at 656 N (ref. 10), supporting the idea that tropical/subtropical monsoons respond dominantly and directly to changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation on orbital timescales 5 . The cycles are punctuated by millennial-scale strongsummer-monsoon events (Chinese interstadials 1 ), and the new record allows us to identify the complete series of these events over the past two interglacial-glacial cycles. Their duration decreases and their frequency increases during glacial build-up in both the last and penultimate glacial periods, indicating that ice sheet size affects their character and pacing. The ages of the events are exceptionally well constrained and may thus serve as benchmarks for correlating and calibrating climate records.The last glacial period is characterized by millennial-scale events, first identified in Greenland, including 25 Greenland interstadials (GIS) during the last interglacial-glacial period [11][12][13] . We previously identified a number of Chinese interstadial (CIS) events 2,4 (relatively strong summer millennial-scale East Asian monsoon, EAM, events) and correlated them with analogous GIS events. We also identified CIS events from portions of the penultimate glacial period, and established a nomenclature with last glacial period CIS denoted CIS A1, A2, and so on, from youngest to oldest, and those of the penultimate glacial period denoted CIS B1, B2, and so on 1 . Here we present an EAM record from Sanbao cave, together with our previous Hulu records 1,2 , and characterize the complete CIS series for the last and penultimate interglacial-glacial cycles, including events not previously identified.Sanbao cave is in Hubei province, central China, on the northern slope of Mt Shennongjia, near the southern edge of the Chinese loess plateau (110u 269 E, 31u 409 N, 1,900 m above sea level). Regional climate is dominated by the EAM, a sub-system of the Asian monsoon (AM) (Supplementary Fig. 1), with a mean annual rainfall of 1,900-2,000 mm and a mean temperature of 8-9 uC. During boreal summer (June to September), warm/humid air from the equatorial Pacific penetrates to the northern slope of Mt Shennongjia, delivering mo...

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 88%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years

Wang

Cheng

Edwards

et al. 2008

Nature

1,659

109

1,268

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A key issue with the YDIH, however, is that YD-type events apparently occurred during previous terminations, such as TIII, (Broecker et al, 2010;Cheng et al, 2009;Sima et al, 2004) that are not reasonably attributable to other extraterrestrial impacts. However, TIII would also likely have experienced at least one high-latitude Northern Hemisphere M> 6 volcanic eruption.…”

Section: Compatibility With Other Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also worth noting that the YD may actually represent a return to the insolation-mediated baseline, and that potentially the Bølling-Allerød (B-A) warm interstadial (i.e. GI-1, from 14.642 to 12.846 ka BP), immediately preceding the YD, was the anomaly (Thornalley et al, 2011;Sima et al, 2004). Although an in-depth discussion of the B-A is outside the scope of this study, the B-A may represent an interval with a temporarily invigorated AMOC (an "overshoot") (Barker et al, 2010), which, after reaching peak strength, began to slow down back towards its glacial state because of the lack of a concomitant rise in insolation (Knorr and Lohmann, 2007;Thornalley et al, 2011).…”

Section: Compatibility With Other Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluating the link between the sulfur-rich Laacher See volcanic eruption and the Younger Dryas climate anomaly

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The Younger Dryas is considered the archetypal millennial-scale climate change event, and identifying its cause is fundamental for thoroughly understanding climate systematics during deglaciations. However, the mechanisms responsible for its initiation remain elusive, and both of the most researched triggers (a meltwater pulse or a bolide impact) are controversial. Here, we consider the problem from a different perspective and explore a hypothesis that Younger Dryas climate shifts were catalysed by the unusually sulfurrich 12.880 ± 0.040 ka BP eruption of the Laacher See volcano (Germany). We use the most recent chronology for the GISP2 ice core ion dataset from the Greenland ice sheet to identify a large volcanic sulfur spike coincident with both the Laacher See eruption and the onset of Younger Dryasrelated cooling in Greenland (i.e. the most recent abrupt Greenland millennial-scale cooling event, the Greenland Stadial 1, GS-1). Previously published lake sediment and stalagmite records confirm that the eruption's timing was indistinguishable from the onset of cooling across the North Atlantic but that it preceded westerly wind repositioning over central Europe by ∼ 200 years. We suggest that the initial short-lived volcanic sulfate aerosol cooling was amplified by ocean circulation shifts and/or sea ice expansion, gradually cooling the North Atlantic region and incrementally shifting the midlatitude westerlies to the south. The aerosol-related cooling probably only lasted 1-3 years, and the majority of Younger Dryas-related cooling may have been due to the seaice-ocean circulation positive feedback, which was particularly effective during the intermediate ice volume conditions characteristic of ∼ 13 ka BP. We conclude that the large and sulfur-rich Laacher See eruption should be considered a viable trigger for the Younger Dryas. However, future studies should prioritise climate modelling of high-latitude volcanism during deglacial boundary conditions in order to test the hypothesis proposed here.

show abstract

Timing of the descent into the last Ice Age determined by the bipolar seesaw

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present planktonic foraminiferal fauna and isotope records from the SE Atlantic that highlight the nature of millennial-scale variability over the last 100 kyr. We derive a hypothesis-driven age model for our records based on the empirical link between variations in Greenland temperature, ocean circulation, and carbonate preservation in the deep SE Atlantic. Our results extend earlier findings of an antiphase (seesaw) relationship between north and south for the largest abrupt events of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3-2 and the last deglaciation. In particular, we find that Heinrich Stadials were paralleled by inferred southward shifts of the thermal Subtropical Front. These were followed by pronounced rebounds of the front with the return to interstadial conditions in the north. Our results also shed light on the mechanism of glaciation. In contrast to the last deglaciation, which was a globally symmetric change superposed by interhemispheric asynchronicity, we find that the descent into full glacial conditions at the onset of MIS 4 (~70 ka) displayed interhemispheric synchrony. We suggest that this globally synchronous descent into glacial MIS 4 was preconditioned by orbital changes, but the timing was ultimately determined by abrupt changes in ocean/atmosphere circulation patterns i.e., the bipolar seesaw.

show abstract

The Younger Dryas—an intrinsic feature of late Pleistocene climate change at millennial timescales

Cited by 50 publications

References 36 publications

Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years

Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years

Evaluating the link between the sulfur-rich Laacher See volcanic eruption and the Younger Dryas climate anomaly

Timing of the descent into the last Ice Age determined by the bipolar seesaw

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About