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Insolation-induced mid-Brunhes transition in Southern Ocean ventilation and deep-ocean temperature

Nature volume 494, pages 222–225 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glacial–interglacial cycles characterized by long cold periods interrupted by short periods of warmth are the dominant feature of Pleistocene climate, with the relative intensity and duration of past and future interglacials being of particular interest for civilization. The interglacials after 430,000 years ago were characterized by warmer climates1,2 and higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide3 than the interglacials before, but the cause of this climatic transition (the so-called mid-Brunhes event (MBE)) is unknown. Here I show, on the basis of model simulations, that in response to insolation changes only, feedbacks between sea ice, temperature, evaporation and salinity caused vigorous pre-MBE Antarctic bottom water formation and Southern Ocean ventilation. My results also show that strong westerlies increased the pre-MBE overturning in the Southern Ocean via an increased latitudinal insolation gradient created by changes in eccentricity during austral winter and by changes in obliquity during austral summer. The stronger bottom water formation led to a cooler deep ocean during the older interglacials. These insolation-induced differences in the deep-sea temperature and in the Southern Ocean ventilation between the more recent interglacials and the older ones were not expected, because there is no straightforward systematic difference in the astronomical parameters between the interglacials before and after 430,000 years ago4. Rather than being a real ‘event’, the apparent MBE seems to have resulted from a series of individual interglacial responses—including notable exceptions to the general pattern—to various combinations of insolation conditions. Consequently, assuming no anthropogenic interference, future interglacials may have pre- or post-MBE characteristics without there being a systematic change in forcings. These findings are a first step towards understanding the magnitude change of the interglacial carbon dioxide concentration around 430,000 years ago.

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Figure 1: Insolation-induced annual mean differences in stream function, ventilation age and mixed-layer depth between the averages of the pre-MBE and post-MBE interglacials.
Figure 2: Insolation-induced annual mean differences in sea-surface density and salinity between the averages of the pre-MBE and post-MBE interglacials.
Figure 3: Schematic representation of astronomically induced responses in MISs 13, 15 and 17 as compared with the post-MBE interglacials.
Figure 4: Insolation-induced annual mean differences in zonal wind stress between each of the pre-MBE interglacials and each of the post-MBE ones.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to A. Berger, M. Crucifix, A. Ganopolski and D. Paillard for their comments on the previous draft of this paper, to A. Mouchet for her help on the water age calculation in LOVECLIM, and to A. Timmermann for his comments on the results. Thanks also to N. Herold for help with English. This work is supported by the European Research Council Advanced Grant EMIS (no. 227348 of the Programme ‘Ideas’). The author is supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS). Access to computer facilities was made easier through sponsorship from S. A. Electrabel, Belgium.

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  1. Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium,

    Qiuzhen Yin

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Correspondence to Qiuzhen Yin.

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Yin, Q. Insolation-induced mid-Brunhes transition in Southern Ocean ventilation and deep-ocean temperature. Nature 494, 222–225 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11790

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