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Interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation

Nature volume 457, pages 1097–1102 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The asynchronous relationship between millennial-scale temperature changes over Greenland and Antarctica during the last glacial period has led to the notion of a bipolar seesaw which acts to redistribute heat depending on the state of meridional overturning circulation within the Atlantic Ocean. Here we present new records from the South Atlantic that show rapid changes during the last deglaciation that were instantaneous (within dating uncertainty) and of opposite sign to those observed in the North Atlantic. Our results demonstrate a direct link between the abrupt changes associated with variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and the more gradual adjustments characteristic of the Southern Ocean. These results emphasize the importance of the Southern Ocean for the development and transmission of millennial-scale climate variability and highlight its role in deglacial climate change and the associated rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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Figure 1: Map showing sea surface temperature (SST)50 and the positions of records shown in Fig. 2 .
Figure 2: Deglacial records from TNO57-21 plus other proxy records for temperature and circulation within the Atlantic Ocean.
Figure 3: Records of surface temperature and benthic fauna from TNO57-21.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Riker and C. Lear for analytical advice and assistance and H. Medley for help with sediment processing. Sample material used in this project was provided by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Deep-Sea Sample Repository. We thank R. Lotti and G. Lozefski for help with sampling. Support for the collection and curating facilities of the core collection is provided by the US National Science Foundation through grant OCE00-02380 and the Office of Naval Research through grant N00014-02-1-0073. The work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (OCE-0435703) to W.S.B. and S.B.

Author Contributions S.B. designed the research and performed foraminiferal Mg/Ca analyses, P.D. performed benthic foraminiferal counts and picked planktonic foraminifera for 14C dating and Mg/Ca analyses, M.J.V. performed planktonic foraminiferal counts, J.P. performed diatom counts and G.K. helped with interpretation. All authors contributed towards preparing the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Paula Diz & Gregor Knorr

    Present address: Present addresses: Laboratoire des Bio-Indicateurs Actuels et Fossiles, Angers University, 49045 Angers Cedex 01, France (P.D.); Alfred Wegener Institute, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany (G.K.).,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK

    Stephen Barker, Paula Diz, Jennifer Pike, Gregor Knorr & Ian R. Hall

  2. British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK

    Maryline J. Vautravers

  3. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964-8000, USA ,

    Wallace S. Broecker

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Correspondence to Stephen Barker.

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Barker, S., Diz, P., Vautravers, M. et al. Interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation. Nature 457, 1097–1102 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07770

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