Reconstructing the last interglacial at Summit, Greenland: Insights from GISP2

The Eemian (last interglacial, 130-115 ka) was likely the warmest of all interglacials of the last 800 ka, with summer Arctic temperatures 3-5 degrees C above present. Here, we present improved Eemian climate records from central Greenland, reconstructed from the base of the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core. Our record comes from clean, stratigraphically disturbed, and isotopically warm ice from 2,750 to 3,040 m depth. The age of this ice is constrained by measuring CH_4 and delta O^18 of O_2, and comparing with the historical record of these properties from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) and North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) ice cores. The d^18 O_ice, d^15N of N_2, and total air content for samples dating discontinuously from 128 to 115 ka indicate a warming of similar to 6 degrees C between 127-121 ka, and a similar elevation history between GISP2 and NEEM. The reconstructed climate and elevation histories are compared with an ensemble of coupled climate-ice-sheet model simulations of the Greenland ice sheet. Those most consistent with the reconstructed temperatures indicate that the Greenland ice sheet contributed 5.1 m (4.1-6.2 m, 95% credible interval) to global eustatic sea level toward the end of the Eemian. Greenland likely did not contribute to anomalously high sea levels at ~127 ka, or to a rapid jump in sea level at ~120 ka. However, several unexplained discrepancies remain between the inferred and simulated histories of temperature and accumulation rate at GISP2 and NEEM, as well as between the climatic reconstructions themselves.

Hunting spectro-temporal information in unevenly spaced paleoclimate time series

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A Holocene paleotemperature record based on radiolaria from the northern Okinawa Trough (East China Sea)

Using a radiolarian-based transfer function, mean annual sea surface temperature (SST) and seasonal temperature range are reconstructed through the last 10,500yrs in the northern Okinawa Trough. Down-core SST estimates reveal that throughout the Holocene the changes of mean annual SST display a three-step trend: (i) an early Holocene continuous warming between 10,500 and 8500yr BP which ends up with a abrupt cooling at about 8200yr BP; (ii) a relatively stable middle Holocene with high SST that lasted until 3200yr BP; and (iii) a late-Holocene distinct SST decline between 3200 and 500yr BP. This pattern is in agreement with the ice core and terrestrial paleoclimatic records in the Chinese continent and other regions of the world. Five cooling events with abrupt mean annual SST drops, which occur at similar to 300-600, 1400, 3100, 4600-5100 and 8200yr BP, are recognized during the last 10,500yrs. Comparison of our results with records of GISP2 ice core and marine sediment in North Atlantic region suggests these cooling events are strongly coupled, which implies a possible significant climatic correlation between high- and low-latitude areas. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Records of the East Asian winter monsoon from the mud area on the inner shelf of the East China Sea since the mid-Holocene

AMS(14)C dating and analysis of grain size, major elements and clay minerals were applied to Core MZ01 from the mud area on the inner shelf of the East China Sea. Based on the environmentally sensitive grain size, clay mineral and major element assemblages, the history of the East Asia winter monsoon since the mid-Holocene could be reconstructed. These three proxies, mean grain size (>9.71 mu m), chemical index of alteration (CIA) and ratio of smectite to kaolinite in particular, show similar fluctuation patterns. Furthermore, 10 extreme values corresponding to the contemporary cooling events could be recognized since the mid-Holocene; these extreme values are likely to have been caused by the strengthening of the East Asia winter monsoon. The cooling events correlated well with the results of the delta O-18 curves of the Dunde ice core and GISP2, which therefore revealed a regional response to global climate change. Four stages of the East Asia winter monsoon were identified, i.e. 8300-6300 a BP, strong and unstable; 6300-3800 a BP, strong but stable; 3800-1400 a BP, weak and unstable; after 1400 a BP, weak but stable.

南海沉积物中的放射虫及其古环境意义

In this paper a systematic study of radiolarian from surface sediments of all the South China Sea (SCS) has initially been done for its deposit ecology, biogeography and paleoenvironment significance. The paleoenvironment information obtained by radiolarian analysis and other sedimentary method for core samples is also made use as the synthesis proxy for revealing the paleoenvironment changes in the SCS and the relations of it with the past globe change during last 200ka. Some results come out of this study as: 1) Radiolarian skeleton chemistry composition and skeleton morphological features were analyzed, chiefly dividing them as 15 types of basic morphological features: 2) Analysis of biogeographical feature demonstrates that the fauna in SCS obviously belonging to a transitional type of west Pacific - Indian Ocean and has a particularity of itself: 3) Tendency of radiolarian population distribution is lower in shallow continental shelf area, increasing gradually toward the abyssal region; 4) Nine character boundaries of radiolarian depth distribution in the sediments from whole the South China Sea may be recognized; 5)Two radiolarian transfer functions for paleotemperature and paleo-primary productivity in the South China Sea have also been established respectively. The equation of transfer function for winter paleotemperature has only an average estimated error of 0.18678 ℃ and the equation for paleo-primary productivity has the calculation accuracy of 85.31%; 6) Changes of radiolarian individuals, numbers of species and H(S) values in core NS93-5 show the completely different oceanic geographical circumstance and ecology structure in the Last Maximum Glacial with present; 7) The abundance variation of some raiolarian warm species and cold species indicate the changes of water masse features along with the paleoenvironment evolution, showing that this sea area clearly is controlled in 6 issues of oxygen isotopes by the cold water masses; 8) By comparative analysis of δ ~(18)O curves with GISP2;s ice core can core 17940 of the northern SCS, the occurring characters of D/O's events 1-21 and Heinrich's events H1-H6 have been revealed in this sea area by core NS93-5, which prove the existence of paleoclimatic tele-connections between the southern SCS and Arctic region since about 200ka BP.

Spatial gradients of temperature, accumulation and delta18O-ice in Greenland over a series of Dansgaard-Oeschger events

Air and water stable isotope measurements from four Greenland deep ice cores (GRIP, GISP2, NGRIP and NEEM) are investigated over a series of Dansgaard–Oeschger events (DO 8, 9 and 10), which are representative of glacial millennial scale variability. Combined with firn modeling, air isotope data allow us to quantify abrupt temperature increases for each drill site (1σ = 0.6 °C for NEEM, GRIP and GISP2, 1.5 °C for NGRIP). Our data show that the magnitude of stadial–interstadial temperature increase is up to 2 °C larger in central and North Greenland than in northwest Greenland: i.e., for DO 8, a magnitude of +8.8 °C is inferred, which is significantly smaller than the +11.1 °C inferred at GISP2. The same spatial pattern is seen for accumulation increases. This pattern is coherent with climate simulations in response to reduced sea-ice extent in the Nordic seas. The temporal water isotope (δ18O)–temperature relationship varies between 0.3 and 0.6 (±0.08) ‰ °C−1 and is systematically larger at NEEM, possibly due to limited changes in precipitation seasonality compared to GISP2, GRIP or NGRIP. The gas age−ice age difference of warming events represented in water and air isotopes can only be modeled when assuming a 26% (NGRIP) to 40% (GRIP) lower accumulation than that derived from a Dansgaard–Johnsen ice flow model.

Dating the Siple Dome (Antarctica) Ice Core By Manual and Computer Interpretation of Annual Layering

The Holocene portion of the Siple Dome (Antarctica) ice core was dated by interpreting the electrical, visual and chemical properties of the core. The data were interpreted manually and with a computer algorithm. The algorithm interpretation was adjusted to be consistent with atmospheric methane stratigraphic ties to the GISP2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2) ice core, (BE)-B-10 stratigraphic ties to the dendrochronology C-14 record and the dated volcanic stratigraphy. The algorithm interpretation is more consistent and better quantified than the tedious and subjective manual interpretation.

A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy

Due to their outstanding resolution and well-constrained chronologies, Greenland ice-core records provide a master record of past climatic changes throughout the Last Interglacial–Glacial cycle in the North Atlantic region. As part of the INTIMATE (INTegration of Ice-core, MArine and TErrestrial records) project, protocols have been proposed to ensure consistent and robust correlation between different records of past climate. A key element of these protocols has been the formal definition and ordinal numbering of the sequence of Greenland Stadials (GS) and Greenland Interstadials (GI) within the most recent glacial period. The GS and GI periods are the Greenland expressions of the characteristic Dansgaard–Oeschger events that represent cold and warm phases of the North Atlantic region, respectively. We present here a more detailed and extended GS/GI template for the whole of the Last Glacial period. It is based on a synchronization of the NGRIP, GRIP, and GISP2 ice-core records that allows the parallel analysis of all three records on a common time scale. The boundaries of the GS and GI periods are defined based on a combination of stable-oxygen isotope ratios of the ice (δ18O, reflecting mainly local temperature) and calcium ion concentrations (reflecting mainly atmospheric dust loading) measured in the ice. The data not only resolve the well-known sequence of Dansgaard–Oeschger events that were first defined and numbered in the ice-core records more than two decades ago, but also better resolve a number of short-lived climatic oscillations, some defined here for the first time. Using this revised scheme, we propose a consistent approach for discriminating and naming all the significant abrupt climatic events of the Last Glacial period that are represented in the Greenland ice records. The final product constitutes an extended and better resolved Greenland stratotype sequence, against which other proxy records can be compared and correlated. It also provides a more secure basis for investigating the dynamics and fundamental causes of these climatic perturbations.

Age determination and sea-surface reconstruction of sediment cores from the Norwegian Sea

Polycystine radiolarians are used to reconstruct summer sea surface temperatures (SSSTs) for the Late Pleistocene-Holocene (600-13,400 14C years BP) in the Norwegian Sea. At 13,200 14C years BP, the SSST was close to the average Holocene SSST (~12°C). It then gradually dropped to 7.1°C in the Younger Dryas. Near the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition (~10,000 14C years BP), the SSST increased 5°C in about 530 years. Four abrupt cooling events, with temperature drops of up to 2.1°C, are recognized during the Holocene: at 9340, 7100 ("8200 calendar years event"), 6400 and 1650 14C years BP. Radiolarian SSSTs and the isotopic signal from the GISP2 ice core are strongly coupled, stressing the importance of the Norwegian Sea as a mediator of heat/precipitation exchange between the North Atlantic, the atmosphere, and the Greenland ice sheet. Radiolarian and diatom-derived SSSTs display similarities, with the former not showing the recently reported Holocene cooling trend.

Th-U ages of a stalagmite from the Kleegruben Cave (Table 1)

A mass-spectrometric uranium-series dated stalagmite from the Central Alps of Austria provides unprecedented new insights into high-altitude climate change during the peak of isotope stage 3. The stalagmite formed continuously between 57 and 46 kyr before present. A series of 'Hendy tests' demonstrates that the outer parts of the sample show a progressive increase of both stable C and O isotope values. No such covariant increase was detected within the axial zone. This in conjunction with other observations suggests that the continuous stable oxygen isotope profile obtained from the axial zone of the stalagmite largely reflects the unaltered isotopic composition of the cave drip water. The delta18O record shows events of high delta18O values that correlate remarkably with Interstadials 15 (a and b), 14 and 12 identified in the Greenland ice cores. Interstadial 15b started rapidly at 55.6 kyr and lasted ~300 yr only, Interstadial 15a peaked 54.9 kyr ago and was even of shorter duration (~100 yr), and Interstadial 14 commenced 54.2 kyr ago and lasted ~3000 yr. This stalagmite thus represents one of the first terrestrial archives outside the high latitudes which record precisely dated Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) events during isotope stage 3. Provided that rapid D/O warmings occurred synchronously in Greenland and the European Alps, the new data provide an independent tool to improve the GRIP and GISP2 chronologies.