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Past warming events in the Arctic linked to shifting winds in the Antarctic

During the most recent ice age, abrupt changes in the Arctic climate were transmitted through the ocean to Antarctica. An atmospheric link between the two hemispheres has now been identified across the Antarctic continent.
  1. Nerilie J. Abram

    1. Nerilie J. Abram is at the Research School of Earth Sciences and the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, Australian National University, ACT 2601, Australia.

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There are no precise analogues in Earth’s past for the rapid warming that the world is now facing as a result of rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, some periods of Earth’s history can reveal valuable details of the way in which different parts of the climate system respond and interact1. Of particular interest are intervals of large and abrupt warming in the Arctic that occurred episodically during the most recent ice age (about 115,000–11,700 years ago). These climate shifts are known as Dansgaard–Oeschger events, and saw temperatures in Greenland jump by more than 10 °C in a matter of decades2. On page 681, Buizert et al.3 report that these events altered the position of the westerly winds across the Southern Hemisphere — a finding that has implications for global ocean circulation and atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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Nature 563, 630-631 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07495-7

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