Global patterns of declining temperature variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene

Rehfeld, Kira; Münch, Thomas; Ho, Sze Ling; Laepple, Thomas

doi:10.1038/nature25454

Cited by 102 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

109

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is apparent when comparing the range and variance of δ 18 O spel values during the LGM versus the Holocene (Figure 4), which hints at a more negative and more variable δ 18 O spel during the glacial, with higher latitude records displaying more variance than low latitude records. This observation is consistent with a synthesis of global temperature proxies that suggest more variable temperatures during the LGM compared to the Holocene at high latitudes compared to the tropics [97]. However, in our case this comparison also demonstrates the lack of overlap in individual records that cover both periods.…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Coverage And Regional Potentialsupporting

confidence: 92%

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Speleothem oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean, Central, and North America reveal climatic controls that include orbital variation, deglacial forcing related to ocean circulation and ice sheet retreat, and the influence of local and remote sea surface temperature variations. Here, we review these records and the global climate teleconnections they suggest following the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database. We find that low-latitude records generally reflect changes in precipitation, whereas higher latitude records are sensitive to temperature and moisture source variability. Tropical records suggest precipitation variability is forced by orbital precession and North Atlantic Ocean circulation driven changes in atmospheric convection on long timescales, and tropical sea surface temperature variations on short timescales. On millennial timescales, precipitation seasonality in southwestern North America is related to North Atlantic climate variability. Great Basin speleothem records are closely linked with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. Although speleothems have revealed these critical global climate teleconnections, the paucity of continuous records precludes our ability to investigate climate drivers from the whole of Central and North America for the Pleistocene through modern. This underscores the need to improve spatial and temporal coverage of speleothem records across this climatically variable region.Quaternary 2019, 2, 5 2 of 33 original authors. The challenges found while compiling such data are discussed in [1]. The database archives speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope data, detailed chronologic and analytical information, and important metadata for each cave site and speleothem such as bedrock geology, overburden thickness, and whether cave monitoring was conducted, among other pieces of information that are essential for working with and interpreting speleothem isotope records.Of the 376 records included in SISAL_v1, 42 are from cave sites in Central and North America and the Caribbean [2]. These records cover a vast region, spanning the tropics to mid-latitudes and bordering two oceans, with climate controls that are highly variable both in the modern and through time. Speleothem records from this region have revealed critical climate teleconnections between the polar regions, the tropics, and the mid-latitudes at decadal to orbital timescales [3][4][5][6]. These records have provided evidence for the effects of climate variability on ancient civilizations [7-9], and contributed toward open questions and key debates regarding Earth's climate system [3,10]. Here, we discuss the spatial and temporal coverage of North and Central American and Caribbean speleothem records included in SISAL_v1 and the predominant controls on δ 18 O spel variability in each region. We review the most salient discoveries arising from regional records included in SISAL_v1 and conduct a statistical analysis to underscore observed spatial relationships. O...

show abstract

Section: Spatial and Temporal Coverage And Regional Potentialsupporting

confidence: 92%

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The nonlinear interactions between the ice sheet and atmosphere or ocean are not considered within this method (Abe-Ouchi et al, 2007;Liakka et al, 2012;Löfverström et al, 2015) and may affect the influence of the climate noise level on ice sheet development. A more complex coupled model is needed to account for the interplay between the ice sheet, the ocean, and the atmosphere or other climate components and to quantify the effect of climate noise on the climate (Rehfeld et al, 2018).…”

Section: 1029/2019gl083717mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Global and regional change in surface temperature variability on decadal to millennial timescales (here called “climate noise”) declined when the Earth system transitioned from a glacial to an interglacial condition (Rehfeld et al, ; Shao & Ditlevsen, ). The Northern Hemisphere ice sheets were restricted to Greenland during interglacials and advanced further south to cover large portions of North America and northern Europe during glacials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite large research efforts, no consistent theory of the physical mechanism of the cause of DO events is widely accepted (Ganopolski & Rahmstorf, 2001;Petersen et al, 2013;Zhang, Lohmann, et al, 2014). Global and regional change in surface temperature variability on decadal to millennial timescales (here called "climate noise") declined when the Earth system transitioned from a glacial to an interglacial condition (Rehfeld et al, 2018;Shao & Ditlevsen, 2016). The Northern Hemisphere ice sheets were restricted to Greenland during interglacials and advanced further south to cover large portions of North America and northern Europe during glacials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Climate Noise Influences Ice Sheet Mean State

Niu

Lohmann

Gowan

2019

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evidence from proxy records indicates that millennial‐scale abrupt climate shifts, called Dansgaard‐Oeschger events, happened during past glacial cycles. Various studies have been conducted to uncover the physical mechanism behind them, based on the assumption that climate mean state determines the variability. However, our study shows that the Dansgaard‐Oeschger events can regulate the mean state of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Sensitivity experiments show that the simulated mean state is influenced by the amplitude of the climatic noise. The most likely cause of this phenomenon is the nonlinear response of the surface mass balance to temperature. It could also cause the retreat processes to be faster than the buildup processes within a glacial cycle. We propose that the climate variability hindered ice sheet development and prevented the Earth system from entering a full glacial state from Marine Isotope Stage 4 to Marine Isotope Stage 3 about 60,000 years ago.

show abstract

“…This is partly due to age modelling uncertainties and low temporal resolution in some records, which prevents the detection of climatic shifts in δ 18 O spel during periods with low signal-to-noise ratios. Although Holocene climate conditions are more stable than during the last glacial period, recent evidence suggests significant variability, challenging the notion of a "very stable Holocene" [170]. The 8.2 ka event, a significant North Atlantic focused temperature event, can be used as a benchmark to test the sensitivity of our records for millennial-scale climate change.…”

Section: Holocene Climate Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Potential of Speleothems from Western Europe as Recorders of Regional Climate: A Critical Assessment of the SISAL Database

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Western Europe is the region with the highest density of published speleothem δ 18 O (δ 18 O spel ) records worldwide. Here, we review these records in light of the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) database. We investigate how representative the spatial and temporal distribution of the available records is for climate in Western Europe and review potential sites and strategies for future studies. We show that spatial trends in precipitation δ 18 O are mirrored in the speleothems, providing means to better constrain the factors influencing δ 18 O spel at a specific location. Coherent regional δ 18 O spel trends are found over stadial-interstadial transitions of the last glacial, especially in high altitude Alpine records, where this has been attributed to a strong temperature control of δ 18 O spel . During the Holocene, regional trends are less clearly expressed, due to lower signal-to-noise ratios in δ 18 O spel , but can potentially be extracted with the use of statistical methods. This first assessment highlights the potential of the European region for speleothem palaeoclimate reconstruction, while underpinning the importance of knowing local factors for a correct interpretation of δ 18 O spel . Quaternary 2018, 1, 30 2 of 30and AnaLysis (SISAL) database (SISAL_v1) contains 376 speleothem records from across the globe [3]. About a quarter of these records (92) are from Western Europe, making it the region with the highest density of published speleothem datasets worldwide [3]. This paper reviews these records within the wider (palaeo-)climatic context of Western Europe, with the objective to identify and promote the potential of cave sites in the region for future palaeoclimate studies. Moreover, we test the suitability of a large compilation of speleothem records to reveal the existence of regional trends in space and time [4].While early studies on Western European speleothems principally focused on their availability for temperature reconstruction using δ 18 O of the carbonate [5,6], it was quickly recognised that δ 18 O spel is driven by a complex interplay of regional and site-specific factors, such as moisture source and circulation dynamics, amount of precipitation, dripwater residence time in the overlying karst, cave temperature and ventilation dynamics, and potential kinetic effects during carbonate deposition [7,8]. Due to the filtering effect of the soil-karst system, the δ 18 O spel signal is usually strongly temporally attenuated compared to precipitation δ 18 O, and affected to varying degrees by local noise [4]. This is particularly pronounced at mid-latitude sites and over the Holocene, when ranges in δ 18 O spel are typically small (average standard deviation of Western European δ 18 O spel in SISAL_v1 is 0.36 ) and reflect only moderate climate shifts, as is apparent from other palaeoclimatic evidence (e.g., [9]). Over glacial-interglacial timescales, changes in the seasonality of precipitation and the spatial stationarity of climate patterns need...

show abstract

Global patterns of declining temperature variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene

Cited by 102 publications

References 57 publications

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Climate Noise Influences Ice Sheet Mean State

The Potential of Speleothems from Western Europe as Recorders of Regional Climate: A Critical Assessment of the SISAL Database

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About