Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas

Haiwei Zhang; Hai Cheng; Christoph Spötl; Xu Zhang; Francisco W. Cruz; Ashish Sinha; Augusto S. Auler; Nicolás M. Stríkis; Xianfeng Wang; Gayatri Kathayat; Xianglei Li; Hanying Li; Carlos Pérez-Mejías; Yanjun Cai; Youfeng Ning; Richard Lawrence Edwards

doi:10.1029/2021gl092620

Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas

Haiwei Zhang, Hai Cheng, Christoph Spötl, Xu Zhang, Francisco W. Cruz, Ashish Sinha, Augusto S. Auler, Nicolás M. Stríkis, Xianfeng Wang, Gayatri Kathayat, Xianglei Li, Hanying Li, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Yanjun Cai, Youfeng Ning, Richard Lawrence Edwards

Earth and Environmental Sciences-Twin Cities

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The abrupt climate event Younger Dryas (YD) has been extensively studied; however, its structure is still poorly understood. Climate in northeastern Brazil is very sensitive to the latitudinal position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) associated with abrupt climate change in the Atlantic. Here, we report changes in the ITCZ position within the YD by using precise speleothem multiproxy records from northeastern Brazil. We provide evidence for a gradual northward migration of the ITCZ preceding poleward shifts of the westerlies and the polar front in northern high latitudes within the YD. This can be attributed to gradual increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration as a consequence of the weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We suggest that a persistent increase in atmospheric CO₂ might have triggered a resumption of the AMOC and reorganization of the atmosphere circulation in the Atlantic during the mid-YD.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2021GL092620
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	48
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl092620
State	Published - Apr 21 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. We also thank Ms. Xiaoli Qu for helping the CLFM scan. This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (41888101, 41972186, 41731174, and 41502166), FAPESP (2017/50085‐3), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019T120894 and 2015M580832). Sampling was performed under a SISBIO permit.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)
Younger Dryas
interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw
northeast Brazil
speleothem

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Publisher link

10.1029/2021gl092620

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

Zhang, H., Cheng, H., Spötl, C., Zhang, X., Cruz, F. W., Sinha, A., Auler, A. S., Stríkis, N. M., Wang, X., Kathayat, G., Li, X., Li, H., Pérez-Mejías, C., Cai, Y., Ning, Y., & Edwards, R. L. (2021). Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(8), [e2021GL092620]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl092620

@article{70f3506417734b60888cc90e1222508f,

title = "Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas",

abstract = "The abrupt climate event Younger Dryas (YD) has been extensively studied; however, its structure is still poorly understood. Climate in northeastern Brazil is very sensitive to the latitudinal position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) associated with abrupt climate change in the Atlantic. Here, we report changes in the ITCZ position within the YD by using precise speleothem multiproxy records from northeastern Brazil. We provide evidence for a gradual northward migration of the ITCZ preceding poleward shifts of the westerlies and the polar front in northern high latitudes within the YD. This can be attributed to gradual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration as a consequence of the weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We suggest that a persistent increase in atmospheric CO2 might have triggered a resumption of the AMOC and reorganization of the atmosphere circulation in the Atlantic during the mid-YD.",

keywords = "Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), Younger Dryas, interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw, northeast Brazil, speleothem",

author = "Haiwei Zhang and Hai Cheng and Christoph Sp{\"o}tl and Xu Zhang and Cruz, {Francisco W.} and Ashish Sinha and Auler, {Augusto S.} and Str{\'i}kis, {Nicol{\'a}s M.} and Xianfeng Wang and Gayatri Kathayat and Xianglei Li and Hanying Li and Carlos P{\'e}rez-Mej{\'i}as and Yanjun Cai and Youfeng Ning and Edwards, {Richard Lawrence}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. We also thank Ms. Xiaoli Qu for helping the CLFM scan. This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (41888101, 41972186, 41731174, and 41502166), FAPESP (2017/50085‐3), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019T120894 and 2015M580832). Sampling was performed under a SISBIO permit. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1029/2021gl092620",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "48",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas

AU - Zhang, Haiwei

AU - Cheng, Hai

AU - Spötl, Christoph

AU - Zhang, Xu

AU - Cruz, Francisco W.

AU - Sinha, Ashish

AU - Auler, Augusto S.

AU - Stríkis, Nicolás M.

AU - Wang, Xianfeng

AU - Kathayat, Gayatri

AU - Li, Xianglei

AU - Li, Hanying

AU - Pérez-Mejías, Carlos

AU - Cai, Yanjun

AU - Ning, Youfeng

AU - Edwards, Richard Lawrence

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. We also thank Ms. Xiaoli Qu for helping the CLFM scan. This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (41888101, 41972186, 41731174, and 41502166), FAPESP (2017/50085‐3), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019T120894 and 2015M580832). Sampling was performed under a SISBIO permit. Publisher Copyright: © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

PY - 2021/4/21

Y1 - 2021/4/21

N2 - The abrupt climate event Younger Dryas (YD) has been extensively studied; however, its structure is still poorly understood. Climate in northeastern Brazil is very sensitive to the latitudinal position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) associated with abrupt climate change in the Atlantic. Here, we report changes in the ITCZ position within the YD by using precise speleothem multiproxy records from northeastern Brazil. We provide evidence for a gradual northward migration of the ITCZ preceding poleward shifts of the westerlies and the polar front in northern high latitudes within the YD. This can be attributed to gradual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration as a consequence of the weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We suggest that a persistent increase in atmospheric CO2 might have triggered a resumption of the AMOC and reorganization of the atmosphere circulation in the Atlantic during the mid-YD.

AB - The abrupt climate event Younger Dryas (YD) has been extensively studied; however, its structure is still poorly understood. Climate in northeastern Brazil is very sensitive to the latitudinal position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) associated with abrupt climate change in the Atlantic. Here, we report changes in the ITCZ position within the YD by using precise speleothem multiproxy records from northeastern Brazil. We provide evidence for a gradual northward migration of the ITCZ preceding poleward shifts of the westerlies and the polar front in northern high latitudes within the YD. This can be attributed to gradual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration as a consequence of the weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We suggest that a persistent increase in atmospheric CO2 might have triggered a resumption of the AMOC and reorganization of the atmosphere circulation in the Atlantic during the mid-YD.

KW - Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

KW - Younger Dryas

KW - interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw

KW - northeast Brazil

KW - speleothem

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105056485&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105056485&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1029/2021gl092620

DO - 10.1029/2021gl092620

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85105056485

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 48

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 8

M1 - e2021GL092620

ER -

Gradual South-North Climate Transition in the Atlantic Realm Within the Younger Dryas

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this