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Half-precessional dynamics of monsoon rainfall near the East African Equator

Nature volume 462, pages 637–641 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

External climate forcings—such as long-term changes in solar insolation—generate different climate responses in tropical and high latitude regions1. Documenting the spatial and temporal variability of past climates is therefore critical for understanding how such forcings are translated into regional climate variability. In contrast to the data-rich middle and high latitudes, high-quality climate-proxy records from equatorial regions are relatively few2,3,4, especially from regions experiencing the bimodal seasonal rainfall distribution associated with twice-annual passage of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Here we present a continuous and well-resolved climate-proxy record of hydrological variability during the past 25,000 years from equatorial East Africa. Our results, based on complementary evidence from seismic-reflection stratigraphy and organic biomarker molecules in the sediment record of Lake Challa near Mount Kilimanjaro, reveal that monsoon rainfall in this region varied at half-precessional (∼11,500-year) intervals in phase with orbitally controlled insolation forcing. The southeasterly and northeasterly monsoons that advect moisture from the western Indian Ocean were strengthened in alternation when the inter-hemispheric insolation gradient was at a maximum; dry conditions prevailed when neither monsoon was intensified and modest local March or September insolation weakened the rain season that followed. On sub-millennial timescales, the temporal pattern of hydrological change on the East African Equator bears clear high-northern-latitude signatures, but on the orbital timescale it mainly responded to low-latitude insolation forcing. Predominance of low-latitude climate processes in this monsoon region can be attributed to the low-latitude position of its continental regions of surface air flow convergence, and its relative isolation from the Atlantic Ocean, where prominent meridional overturning circulation more tightly couples low-latitude climate regimes to high-latitude boundary conditions.

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Figure 1: Location and regional climate of the study site.
Figure 2: Lake Challa climate-proxy data in context.

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Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by funding agencies in Belgium (FWO-Vlaanderen), Denmark (Danish National Research Council), Germany (DFG) and The Netherlands (NWO) through the European Science Foundation (ESF) EuroCORES programme, EuroCLIMATE. Fieldwork was conducted with permission of the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) and the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). We thank A. Alcantara, M. Kohler, S. Lauterbach, R. Niederreiter and S. Opitz for assistance with core collection and processing; D. Engstrom for 210Pb dating, A. Berger, D. Fleitmann, J. Kutzbach and Z. Liu for discussion, and E. Odada for support. J.M. acknowledges the support of the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen).

Author Contributions D.V. initiated and coordinated the research, and wrote the paper. J.S.S.D. was responsible for the production of the biomarker data, J.M. interpreted the seismic-reflection data, I.K. constructed the composite sediment sequence and depth scale, M.B. developed the sediment age model, and M.F. supervised core sampling and managed the project database. G.H.H. and all CHALLACEA members contributed their expertise to improving the discussed data sets and/or the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Limnology Unit, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium,

    Dirk Verschuren & Maureen Fagot

  2. Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands ,

    Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté

  3. Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, The Netherlands,

    Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté

  4. Department of Geology and Soil Science, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, 9000 Gent, Belgium,

    Jasper Moernaut

  5. GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Sektion 3.3 Klimadynamik und Sedimente, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany ,

    Iris Kristen

  6. School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, BT9 6AX Belfast, UK

    Maarten Blaauw

  7. Department of Earth Sciences, Geological Institute, ETH Zürich, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland,

    Gerald H. Haug

  8. DFG Leibniz Center for Earth Surface Process and Climate Studies, Potsdam University, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany

    Gerald H. Haug

  9. Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Research Group Paleoecology and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of Science, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,

    Bas van Geel & Anna Lyaruu

  10. Department of Geology and Soil Science, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, 9000 Gent, Belgium.,

    Marc De Batist

  11. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.,

    Philip Barker & Elizabeth Hurrell

  12. Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, State University of New York, Albany, New York 12222, USA.,

    Mathias Vuille

  13. Department of Geology, GeoBiosphere Centre, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden.,

    Daniel J. Conley

  14. Department of Geology, University of Nairobi, PO Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.,

    Daniel O. Olago

  15. Department of Biology, Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.,

    Isla Milne & Brian F. Cumming

  16. GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Sektion 3.3 Klimadynamik und Sedimente, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany.,

    Birgit Plessen, Christian Wolff, Achim Brauer, Jens Mingram & Norbert R. Nowaczyk

  17. Department of Biology, Limnology Unit, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium.,

    Hilde Eggermont

  18. Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands.,

    Jort Ossebaar

  19. Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.,

    Johannes van der Plicht

  20. Department of Palynology, National Museums of Kenya, Museum Hill, Nairobi, Kenya.,

    Stephen M. Rucina

  21. Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.,

    James M. Russell

  22. Department of Geology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.,

    Edward Keppens

  23. Centre de Physique du Globe, Royal Meteorological Institute, 5670 Dourbes, Belgium.,

    Joseph Hus

  24. Department of Geosciences, Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9297, USA.,

    Raymond S. Bradley

  25. NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK.,

    Melanie Leng

Authors
  1. Dirk Verschuren
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  2. Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
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  3. Jasper Moernaut
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  4. Iris Kristen
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  7. Gerald H. Haug
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Consortia

CHALLACEA project members

  • Bas van Geel
  • , Marc De Batist
  • , Philip Barker
  • , Mathias Vuille
  • , Daniel J. Conley
  • , Daniel O. Olago
  • , Isla Milne
  • , Birgit Plessen
  • , Hilde Eggermont
  • , Christian Wolff
  • , Elizabeth Hurrell
  • , Jort Ossebaar
  • , Anna Lyaruu
  • , Johannes van der Plicht
  • , Brian F. Cumming
  • , Achim Brauer
  • , Stephen M. Rucina
  • , James M. Russell
  • , Edward Keppens
  • , Joseph Hus
  • , Raymond S. Bradley
  • , Melanie Leng
  • , Jens Mingram
  •  & Norbert R. Nowaczyk

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Verschuren.

Additional information

Lists of participants and affiliations appear at the end of the paper.

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Supplementary Information

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Verschuren, D., Sinninghe Damsté, J., Moernaut, J. et al. Half-precessional dynamics of monsoon rainfall near the East African Equator . Nature 462, 637–641 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08520

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