Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Benthic δ18O records Earth’s energy imbalance

Nature Geoscience volume 16, pages 797–802 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) of foraminifera in marine sediment records have fundamentally shaped our understanding of the ice ages and global climate change. Interpretation of these records has, however, been challenging because they reflect contributions from both ocean temperature and ice volume. Here, instead of disentangling, we reconstruct global benthic foraminiferal δ18O across the last deglaciation (18–11.5 ka) with ice volume constraints from fossil corals and ocean temperature constraints from ice core noble gases. We demonstrate that, while ocean temperature and ice volume histories are distinct, their summed contributions to δ18O agree remarkably well with benthic δ18O records. Given the agreement between predicted and observed δ18O, we further build upon recent insight into global energy fluxes and introduce a framework to quantitively reconstruct top-of-atmosphere net radiative imbalance, or Earth’s energy imbalance, from δ18O. Finally, we reconstruct 150,000 years of energy imbalance, which broadly follows Northern Hemisphere summer insolation but shows millennial-scale energy gain during the cold intervals surrounding Heinrich events. This suggests that, in addition to external forcing, internal variability plays an important role in modifying the global energy budget on long (millennial-plus) timescales.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Contributions of ocean temperature and ice volume changes to global Δδ18O.
Fig. 2: Sensitivity of LGM Δδ18Opredicted to mean δ18Oice, noble gas saturation state and applied sea level reconstruction.
Fig. 3: Global energy change (ΔEglobal) and EEI on a range of timescales.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

File including the reconstructions from this study and original data used to produce reconstructions is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8237374.

References

  1. Zachos, J., Pagani, H., Sloan, L., Thomas, E. & Billups, K. Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292, 686–693 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Friedrich, O., Norris, R. D. & Erbacher, J. Evolution of middle to late Cretaceous oceans—a 55 m.y. record of Earth’s temperature and carbon cycle. Geology 40, 107–110 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Emiliani, C. Pleistocene temperatures. J. Geol. 63, 538–578 (1955).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Shackleton, N. Oxygen isotope analyses and pleistocene temperatures re-assessed. Nature 215, 15–17 (1967).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. McDuff, R. E. The chemistry of interstitial waters from the upper ocean crust, site 395, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 78B. In Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 86 (eds Heath, G. R. et al.) 675–687 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984).

  6. Schrag, D. P. et al. The oxygen isotopic composition of seawater during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, 331–342 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Shackleton, N. J. The 100,000-year ice-age cycle identified and found to lag temperature, carbon dioxide, and orbital eccentricity. Science 289, 1897–1902 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Waelbroeck, C. et al. Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, 295–305 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cutler, K. B. et al. Rapid sea-level fall and deep-ocean temperature change since the last interglacial period. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 206, 253–271 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bintanja, R., Van De Wal, R. S. W. & Oerlemans, J. Modelled atmospheric temperatures and global sea levels over the past million years. Nature 437, 125–128 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Elderfield, H. et al. Evolution of ocean temperature and ice volume through the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Science 337, 704–709 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Shakun, J. D., Lea, D. W., Lisiecki, L. E. & Raymo, M. E. An 800-kyr record of global surface ocean δ18O and implications for ice volume–temperature coupling. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 426, 58–68 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rohling, E. J. et al. Sea level and deep-sea temperature reconstructions suggest quasi-stable states and critical transitions over the past 40 million years. Sci. Adv. 7, 5326–5351 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. von Schuckmann, K. et al. Heat stored in the Earth system: where does the energy go? Earth Syst. Sci. Data 12, 2013–2041 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hansen, J. et al. Climate change: Earth’s energy imbalance: confirmation and implications. Science 308, 1431–1435 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Baggenstos, D. et al. Earth’s radiative imbalance from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 14881–14886 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lambeck, K., Rouby, H., Purcell, A., Sun, Y. & Sambridge, M. Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 15296–15303 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bereiter, B., Shackleton, S., Baggenstos, D., Kawamura, K. & Severinghaus, J. Mean global ocean temperatures during the last glacial transition. Nature 553, 39–44 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Headly, M. A. & Severinghaus, J. P. A method to measure Kr/N2 ratios in air bubbles trapped in ice cores and its application in reconstructing past mean ocean temperature. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D19105 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Shackleton, S. et al. Is the noble gas-based rate of ocean warming during the Younger Dryas overestimated? Geophys. Res. Lett. 46, 5928–5936 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Lisiecki, L. E. & Stern, J. V. Regional and global benthic δ18O stacks for the last glacial cycle. Paleoceanography 31, 1368–1394 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Oerlemans, J. Glacial cycles and ice-sheet modelling. Clim. Change 4, 353–374 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Osman, M. B. et al. Globally resolved surface temperatures since the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 599, 239–244 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hamme, R. C. & Severinghaus, J. P. Trace gas disequilibria during deep-water formation. Deep Sea Res. Part I Oceanogr. Res. Pap. 54, 939–950 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Pöppelmeier, F. et al. The effect of past saturation changes on noble gas reconstructions of mean ocean temperature. Geophys. Res. Lett. 50, e2022GL102055 (2023).

  26. Austermann, J., Mitrovica, J. X., Latychev, K. & Milne, G. A. Barbados-based estimate of ice volume at Last Glacial Maximum affected by subducted plate. Nat. Geosci. 6, 553–557 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Simms, A. R., Lisiecki, L., Gebbie, G., Whitehouse, P. L. & Clark, J. F. Balancing the last glacial maximum (LGM) sea-level budget. Quat. Sci. Rev. 205, 143–153 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Yokoyama, Y., Lambeck, K., De Deckker, P., Johnston, P. & Fifield, L. K. Timing of the Last Glacial Maximum from observed sea-level minima. Nature 406, 713–716 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Yokoyama, Y. et al. Rapid glaciation and a two-step sea level plunge into the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 559, 603–607 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Poirier, R. K. et al. Quantifying diagenesis, contributing factors, and resulting isotopic bias in benthic foraminifera using the foraminiferal preservation index: implications for geochemical proxy records. Paleoceanogr. Paleoclimatol. 36, e2020PA004110 (2021).

  31. Hemming, S. R. Heinrich events: massive late Pleistocene detritus layers of the North Atlantic and their global climate imprint. Rev. Geophys. 42, RG1005 (2004).

  32. Bohm, E. et al. Strong and deep Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial cycle. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14059 (2015).

  33. Vidal, L. et al. Evidence for changes in the North Atlantic Deep Water linked to meltwater surges during the Heinrich events. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 146, 13–27 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Galbraith, E. D., Merlis, T. M. & Palter, J. B. Destabilization of glacial climate by the radiative impact of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation disruptions. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 8214–8221 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Grant, K. M. et al. Rapid coupling between ice volume and polar temperature over the past 150,000 years. Nature 491, 744–747 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Dalton, A. S. et al. The marine δ18O record overestimates continental ice volume during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Glob. Planet. Change 212, 103814 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. de Gelder, G. et al. High interstadial sea levels over the past 420ka from the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. Commun. Earth Environ. 3, 256 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Pico, T. Toward new and independent constraints on global mean sea‐level highstands during the Last Glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage 3, 5a, and 5c). Paleoceanogr. Paleoclimatol. 37, e2022PA004560 (2022).

  39. Yokoyama, Y., Esat, T. M. & Lambeck, K. Coupled climate and sea-level changes deduced from Huon Peninsula coral terraces of the last ice age. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 193, 579–587 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Shackleton, S. et al. Global ocean heat content in the Last Interglacial. Nat. Geosci. 13, 77–81 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Dutton, A., Webster, J. M., Zwartz, D., Lambeck, K. & Wohlfarth, B. Tropical tales of polar ice: evidence of Last Interglacial polar ice sheet retreat recorded by fossil reefs of the granitic Seychelles islands. Quat. Sci. Rev. 107, 182–196 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. O’Leary, M. J. et al. Ice sheet collapse following a prolonged period of stable sea level during the last interglacial. Nat. Geosci. 6, 796–800 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Dyer, B. et al. Sea-level trends across The Bahamas constrain peak last interglacial ice melt. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2026839118 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Wolff, E. W., Fischer, H., van Ommen, T. & Hodell, D. A. Stratigraphic templates for ice core records of the past 1.5 Myr. Clim 18, 1563–1577 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Clark, P. U. & Pollard, D. Origin of the Middle Pleistocene Transition by ice sheet erosion of regolith. Paleoceanography 13, 1–9 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Rhodes, R. H. et al. Enhanced tropical methane production in response to iceberg discharge in the North Atlantic. Science 348, 1016–1019 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Broecker, W. S. Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate change. Nature 372, 421–424 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Cheng, H. et al. The Asian monsoon over the past 640,000 years and ice age terminations. Nature 534, 640–646 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Berger, A. & Loutre, M. F. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 10, 297–317 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Bereiter, B., Kawamura, K. & Severinghaus, J. P. New methods for measuring atmospheric heavy noble gas isotope and elemental ratios in ice core samples. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 32, 801–814 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Haeberli, M. et al. Snapshots of mean ocean temperature over the last 700 000 years using noble gases in the EPICA Dome C ice core. Clim. Past 17, 843–867 (2021).

  52. Jenkins, W. J., Lott, D. E. & Cahill, K. L. A determination of atmospheric helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon solubility concentrations in water and seawater. Mar. Chem. 211, 94–107 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Shackleton, N. J. Attainment of isotopic equilibrium between ocean water and the benthonic foraminifera genus Uvigerina: isotopic changes in the ocean during the last glacial. Colloq. Int. Cent. Natl Rech. Sci. 219, 203–210 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  54. Sarmiento, J. L. & Gruber, N. Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics (Princeton Univ. Press, 2006).

  55. Charette, M. & Smith, W. The volume of Earth’s ocean. Oceanography 23, 112–114 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Bender, J. Higgins and J. Severinghaus for helpful discussions and encouragement in pursuing this project. We are grateful to J. Severinghaus for pointing us to the Great Barrier Reef sea level reconstruction. Thanks to S. Hines for her expertise and advice on the interpretation of marine sediment records. The first author was supported by National Science Foundation awards 1744993 and 2052958. A.S. was supported by National Science Foundation award 2049359.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Sarah Shackleton

  2. Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Alan Seltzer

  3. Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia

    Daniel Baggenstos

  4. Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Daniel Baggenstos

  5. Department of Earth Science, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lorraine E. Lisiecki

Authors
  1. Sarah Shackleton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alan Seltzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Daniel Baggenstos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lorraine E. Lisiecki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

S.S. and D.B. designed the research. A.S. and S.S. established the method for splined reconstructions via Monte Carlo error propagation. D.B. and S.S. re-analysed the published noble gas records to produce the splined ocean temperature reconstruction. S.S., A.S., D.B. and L.E.L. analysed the data. S.S. wrote the paper with input from all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah Shackleton.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Geoscience thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: James Super, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Global mean ocean temperature (MOT) evolution over the last 25 ka.

Individual samples from WAIS Divide18 (WDC, blue), EPICA Dome C16 (EDC, red) and Taylor Glacier20,40 (TG, yellow) are shown as points with 1σ error bars calculated from published analytical uncertainties and uncertainties associated with box model inputs (see Methods). Splined reconstruction from these combined data (MOTcomb) are shown in green with 1σ confidence envelope shown in shading centered on mean spline (solid line). Note that absolute mean ocean temperature (rather than temperature anomaly) is shown here.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Raw relative sea level data and calculated eustatic sea level curves considered in this study.

In a) points represent the individual raw observations from refs. 17 (yellow) and29 (orange) and solid lines show the splines of the eustatic sea level curves from each study that are used to compute the ice volume component of δ18Obenth. b) shows the number of raw sea level observations for each study per thousand-year bin.

Extended Data Fig. 3

Agnostic reconstruction of Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI) from δ18Obenth. Here we outline the steps taken to calculate EEI from δ18Obenth (left to right), which are described in detail in the methods. Briefly, δ18Obenth21 (left) is converted into sea level (second panel, top in yellow) and ocean temperature (second panel, bottom in green) using the assumption that the δ18Obenth signal is entirely attributed to one or the other. We then calculate the energy change associated with ice sheet buildup/melting from the sea level reconstruction (third panel, yellow) and with ocean warming/cooling from the ocean temperature reconstruction (third panel, green). EEI is then calculated by taking the time derivative of the energy changes and averaging over Earth’s surface area (panel 4). The gray lines in panels 3 and 4 show the calculated the global energy change (ΔEglobal) and EEI if we assume a constant 60/40 split of δ18Obenth between ice volume and ocean temperature changes.

Extended Data Fig. 4

Sensitivity of calculated (a) global energy change (ΔEglobal) and (b) Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI) to applied δ18Oice. Here we assume the δ18Obenth21 record is entirely an ice volume signal and calculate the energy change using a wide range of mean ice sheet δ18O (−35‰ to −25‰) to test the sensitivity of calculated EEI to this parameter.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Mean ocean temperature40 and sea level35,41 reconstructions for Termination II and the Last Interglacial.

Blue show sea level reconstructions from Red Sea plankonic δ18O35 and red diamonds show coral records from the Seychelles41. Dashed line indicates the onset and end of the termination and orange shading indicates the timing of Heinrich Stadial 11.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shackleton, S., Seltzer, A., Baggenstos, D. et al. Benthic δ18O records Earth’s energy imbalance. Nat. Geosci. 16, 797–802 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01250-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01250-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing