Palaeoceanography articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate simulations of the Last Interglacial show that Antarctic ice loss induces warming of East Antarctica. Meltwater equivalent to the ice loss induces warming of the subsurface. Both effects can further enhance Antarctic ice sheet deterioration

    • David K. Hutchinson
    • , Laurie Menviel
    •  & Andrew McC. Hogg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study presents seawater uranium isotope records based on deep-sea corals from the Drake Passage to track subglacial discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, demonstrating a causal link between enhanced subglacial discharge, retreat of the ice sheet, and the rapid rise in sea levels.

    • Tao Li
    • , Laura F. Robinson
    •  & James W. B. Rae

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The response of monsoons to climate change remains uncertain. Here, the authors show that the Australian Summer Monsoon was primarily driven by insolation forcing but exhibited high sensitivity to ice volume and pCO2 after ~0.95 Ma. By contrast, wind-driven winter productivity tracked glacial-interglacial variability over the past 1.6 Myr.

    • Li Gong
    • , Ann Holbourn
    •  & Nils Andersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Pliocene shows that a warmer world can support both expanded and contracted marine Oxygen Minimum Zones. While oxygen distributions were overall like today, there was less low-oxygen water in the North Pacific and more in the North Atlantic

    • Catherine V. Davis
    • , Elizabeth C. Sibert
    •  & Pincelli M. Hull

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deep ocean circulation plays a crucial role in controlling global climate. What caused on-set of modern like circulation in geological past remains unknown. New research finds constriction of the Central American Seaway caused on-set of modern-like circulation in Indian Ocean since the late-Miocene (~6 Ma).

    • Priyesh Prabhat
    • , Waliur Rahaman
    •  & Meloth Thamban

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A phase of unique turbulent oceanographic and tectonic circumstances during the Early Oligocene caused high productivity in the Australian Antarctic Basin and enabled the stabilization of colder global climates.

    • Katharina Hochmuth
    • , Joanne M. Whittaker
    •  & Joseph H. LaCasce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of the largest available database of Holocene temperature time series covering past 12,000 years reveals complex spatio-temporal trends and challenges the paradigm of a globally synchronous Holocene Thermal Maximum.

    • Olivier Cartapanis
    • , Lukas Jonkers
    •  & Anne de Vernal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sedimentary ancient DNA can indicate ecosystem-wide changes. Here, the authors show association between warm phases and high diatom abundance in the Antarctic Scotia Sea, in addition to presenting ancient eukaryote sedimentary DNA spanning the last approximately 1 million years.

    • Linda Armbrecht
    • , Michael E. Weber
    •  & Xufeng Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Astrochronology of a core in Maryland suggests that the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) warming lasted about 6 thousand years. These data are more consistent with astronomical forcing than an extraterrestial trigger for the PETM.

    • Mingsong Li
    • , Timothy J. Bralower
    •  & Marci M. Robinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using paired reconstructions of seawater pCO2, temperature, and nutrient utilization, Dai et al. show underappreciated influences of the solubility pump on deglacial Subantarctic surface-water pCO2 variabilities compared to the biological pump.

    • Yuhao Dai
    • , Jimin Yu
    •  & Xuan Ji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our understanding of ancient organic carbon cycling in marine environments is limited. Here the authors developed a method to reconstruct upper ocean organic carbon chemistry in the geological past, which when applied, can help to create a better understanding of the evolution of the carbon cycle.

    • Babette A. A. Hoogakker
    • , Caroline Anderson
    •  & Victoria L. Peck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism driving past Laurentide Ice-Sheet instabilities remains elusive Here, the authors present a sediment record from the subpolar western North Atlantic and show that massive warming of the upper interior ocean was the likely trigger for repeated collapses of the Laurentide Ice-Sheet and iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic, known as Heinrich Events.

    • Lars Max
    • , Dirk Nürnberg
    •  & Stefan Mulitza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using cold-water corals, this work identifies a deep outflow of Pacific waters via the Tasman Sea during the last ice age, thus highlighting the role of this area for the interoceanic exchange of water masses on climatic time scales.

    • Torben Struve
    • , David J. Wilson
    •  & Tina van de Flierdt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wildfires are expected to increase in frequency and severity. Here the authors use geochemical paleo-reconstructions to show that over decadal timescales in Earth history wildfires are positively correlated with phytoplankton production off the coast of Australia.

    • Dongyan Liu
    • , Chongran Zhou
    •  & Yan Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    What caused the end of the high ocean productivity in the tropics in late Miocene-early Pliocene is debated. Here, deep-sea sediment records reveal that productivity abruptly declined 4.6 million years ago, potentially linked to reduced seasonality and monsoon intensity that led to decreased nutrient supply to the oceans.

    • B. – Th. Karatsolis
    • , B. C. Lougheed
    •  & J. Henderiks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of Southern Ocean gateways contributing to the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition is still debated. Here, the authors present high-resolution ocean simulations to show that gateways opening led to a reorganization of ocean circulation, heat transport and Antarctic surface water cooling.

    • Isabel Sauermilch
    • , Joanne M. Whittaker
    •  & Joseph H. LaCasce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Modelling and sea surface temperature proxy data from the Weddell Sea document a 3–4 °C drop coinciding with the Early Cretaceous Weissert Event. Temperature data worldwide confirm a 3.0 °C global mean surface cooling, equivalent to a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO2, favouring local polar ice.

    • Liyenne Cavalheiro
    • , Thomas Wagner
    •  & Elisabetta Erba

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Paleocene–Eocene boundary coincided with runaway global warming possibly analogous to future climate change, but the sources of greenhouse gasses have remained unresolved. Here, the authors reveal volcanism triggered initial warming, and subsequent carbon was released after crossing a tipping point.

    • Sev Kender
    • , Kara Bogus
    •  & Melanie J. Leng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The North Water polynya is a unique but vulnerable ecosystem, home to Indigenous people and Arctic keystone species. New palaeoecological records from Greenland suggest human abandonment c. 2200–1200 cal yrs BP occurred during climate-forced polynya instability, foreshadowing future ecosystem declines.

    • Sofia Ribeiro
    • , Audrey Limoges
    •  & Thomas A. Davidson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How sea-level in the western Mediterranean reacts to climate changes is not well known. Here, the authors present a regional reconstruction and show that temperatures influenced sea-level change rates during the Holocene, while recent sea-level rise is happening faster than during any other period of the last 4000 years.

    • Matteo Vacchi
    • , Kristen M. Joyse
    •  & Alessio Rovere

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) changed on glacial-interglacial time scales is not well known. Here, the authors present a 140,000 year long sediment record from the Drake passage and show both glacial-interglacial as well as millennial-scale variability which are linked to Atlantic variability and marine carbon storage.

    • Shuzhuang Wu
    • , Lester Lembke-Jene
    •  & Gerhard Kuhn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    North Atlantic deep water (NADW) formation influences the climate and carbon cycle, but the contribution of Arctic waters is difficult to constrain. Here the authors use Pa/Th proxy measurements to determine the amount of Arctic Ocean water that flows through the Fram Strait and contributes to NADW.

    • Lauren E. Kipp
    • , Jerry F. McManus
    •  & Markus Kienast

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The configuration of past ice sheets, and therefore sea level, is highly uncertain. Here, the authors provide a global reconstruction of ice sheets for the past 80,000 years that allows to test proxy based sea level reconstructions and helps to reconcile disagreements with sea level changes inferred from models.

    • Evan J. Gowan
    • , Xu Zhang
    •  & Gerrit Lohmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The expansion of oceanic anoxia during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum has important implications for faunal turnover patterns and global biogeochemical cycles. Here the authors use uranium isotopes and a biogeochemical model to suggest that the areal expansion of anoxia must have been limited to 10-fold.

    • Matthew O. Clarkson
    • , Timothy M. Lenton
    •  & Derek Vance

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some algae produce compounds called alkenones that can reconstruct sea surface temperature through geological time, but in high latitudes unknown species complicate use of this proxy. Here the authors find a lineage of sea ice algae that produces alkenones and can be used as a paleo-sensor for sea ice abundance.

    • Karen Jiaxi Wang
    • , Yongsong Huang
    •  & Patricia Cabedo-Sanz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How and why the ‘Snowball Earth’ occurred during the Cryogenian period is debated. Here, the authors show that the cryogenian ocean hosted diminished tidal amplitudes and associated energy dissipation rates, reaching 10-50% of today’s rates thus perhaps contributing to prolonged glaciations.

    • J. A. Mattias Green
    • , Hannah S. Davies
    •  & Christopher Scotese

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