1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University Ca' Foscari of Venice,
2. Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes-CNR, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123 Venice, Italy
3. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE), CNRS-UJF, BP96 38402 Saint-Martin-d'Hères cedex, France
4. Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
5. EAWAG, PO Box 611, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
6. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
7. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark
8. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE/IPSL), CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, CE Saclay 91191, Gif sur Yvette, France
9. Environmental Sciences Department, University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy
10. Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
11. Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstrasse 22, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
12. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
13. GSF National Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
14. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
15. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
16. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
17. Departement Geografie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
18. Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296 Tromsø, Norway
19. ENEA, C. R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, 00060 Roma, Italy
20. Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, PO Box 80005, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
21. CSNSM/IN2P3/CNRS, Bat. 108, 91405 Orsay, France
22. Department of Geological, Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy
23. Département des Sciences de la Terre, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP160/03, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
24. Institute for Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, INF229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
25. *A full list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper.

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H. F. (Email: hufischer@awi-bremerhaven.de).

Abstract

Precise knowledge of the phase relationship between climate changes in the two hemispheres is a key for understanding the Earth's climate dynamics. For the last glacial period, ice core studies^{1, 2} have revealed strong coupling of the largest millennial-scale warm events in Antarctica with the longest Dansgaard–Oeschger events in Greenland^{3, 4, 5} through the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation^{6, 7, 8}. It has been unclear, however, whether the shorter Dansgaard–Oeschger events have counterparts in the shorter and less prominent Antarctic temperature variations, and whether these events are linked by the same mechanism. Here we present a glacial climate record derived from an ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, which represents South Atlantic climate at a resolution comparable with the Greenland ice core records. After methane synchronization with an ice core from North Greenland⁹, the oxygen isotope record from the Dronning Maud Land ice core shows a one-to-one coupling between all Antarctic warm events and Greenland Dansgaard–Oeschger events by the bipolar seesaw⁶. The amplitude of the Antarctic warm events is found to be linearly dependent on the duration of the concurrent stadial in the North, suggesting that they all result from a similar reduction in the meridional overturning circulation.

1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University Ca' Foscari of Venice,
2. Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes-CNR, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123 Venice, Italy
3. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE), CNRS-UJF, BP96 38402 Saint-Martin-d'Hères cedex, France
4. Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
5. EAWAG, PO Box 611, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
6. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
7. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark
8. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE/IPSL), CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, CE Saclay 91191, Gif sur Yvette, France
9. Environmental Sciences Department, University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy
10. Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
11. Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstrasse 22, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
12. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
13. GSF National Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
14. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
15. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
16. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
17. Departement Geografie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
18. Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296 Tromsø, Norway
19. ENEA, C. R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, 00060 Roma, Italy
20. Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, PO Box 80005, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
21. CSNSM/IN2P3/CNRS, Bat. 108, 91405 Orsay, France
22. Department of Geological, Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy
23. Département des Sciences de la Terre, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP160/03, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
24. Institute for Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, INF229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
25. *A full list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper.

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H. F. (Email: hufischer@awi-bremerhaven.de).

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