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Southward movement of the Pacific intertropical convergence zone AD 1400–1850

Nature Geoscience volume 2, pages 519–525 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Tropical rainfall patterns control the subsistence lifestyle of more than one billion people. Seasonal changes in these rainfall patterns are associated with changes in the position of the intertropical convergence zone, which is characterized by deep convection causing heavy rainfall near 10∘ N in boreal summer and 3∘ N in boreal winter. Dynamic controls on the position of the intertropical convergence zone are debated, but palaeoclimatic evidence from continental Asia, Africa and the Americas suggests that it has shifted substantially during the past millennium, reaching its southernmost position some time during the Little Ice Age (AD 1400–1850). However, without records from the meteorological core of the intertropical convergence zone in the Pacific Ocean, quantitative constraints on its position are lacking. Here we report microbiological, molecular and hydrogen isotopic evidence from lake sediments in the Northern Line Islands, Galápagos and Palau indicating that the Pacific intertropical convergence zone was south of its modern position for most of the past millennium, by as much as 500 km during the Little Ice Age. A colder Northern Hemisphere at that time, possibly resulting from lower solar irradiance, may have driven the intertropical convergence zone south. We conclude that small changes in Earth’s radiation budget may profoundly affect tropical rainfall.

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Figure 1: Map of mean annual precipitation in the tropical Pacific with our sampling locations shown.
Figure 2: Sediment features from Washington Lake and Christmas Island lake F6.
Figure 3: Age–depth models for Washington Lake sediment.
Figure 4: Tropical Pacific precipitation proxy records during the past 1,200 years and selected records from the literature.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the US National Science Foundation (J.P.S.), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (J.P.S.), the Gary Comer Science and Education Foundation (J.P.S.) and the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation through a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship (D.S.). Discussions with J. Chiang, K. Takahashi, A. Timmerman, M. Wallace, G. Philander, C. Wunsch, P. Colinvaux and C. Saenger improved this manuscript. M. Miller, C. Saenger, M. Dawson, L. Martin, P. Colin, L. Bell, The Coral Reef Research Foundation of Palau, J. Overpeck, J. Conroy, P. Colinvaux, M. Steinitz-Kannan, S. Fukada, K. Anderson, J. Briden and C. Corbett assisted with field work. O. Kawka, B. Demianew and R. Rottenfusser assisted in the laboratory. The Galápagos National Park, the Charles Darwin Foundation, the Republic of Kiribati and the Republic of Palau issued permits and provided assistance with field work.

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Author notes

  1. Dirk Sachse, Rienk H. Smittenberg & Zhaohui Zhang

    Present address: Present addresses: DFG-Leibniz Center for Surface Process and Climate Studies, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany (D.S.); Geological Institute, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland (R.H.S.); Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China (Z.Z.),

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Julian P. Sachs, Dirk Sachse, Rienk H. Smittenberg & Zhaohui Zhang

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    David S. Battisti

  3. Biological Science Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

    Stjepko Golubic

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Contributions

J.P.S. conceived the research, acquired financial support, carried out field work and wrote the paper. D.S. contributed the Line Island data, aided by S.G., and assisted with writing. Z.Z. contributed the El Junco data and assisted with writing. R.H.S. carried out field work, contributed the Palau data and assisted with writing. D.S.B. assisted with writing.

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Correspondence to Julian P. Sachs.

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Sachs, J., Sachse, D., Smittenberg, R. et al. Southward movement of the Pacific intertropical convergence zone AD 1400–1850. Nature Geosci 2, 519–525 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo554

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