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Orbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon variability across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification
Persistent millennial Asian winter monsoon variability is shown to be superposed on orbital 41-kyr and 100-kyr cycles across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification using a paleomagnetically dated high-resolution Chinese Loess Plateau grain size record.
- Hong Ao
- , Diederik Liebrand
- & Peng Zhang
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Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost
A pan-Arctic estimate of past and future subsea permafrost including solid Earth effects causes local sea level to differ from the global mean. Future subsea permafrost disappears faster under high than low emissions scenarios.
- Roger C. Creel
- , Frederieke Miesner
- & Pier Paul Overduin
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A mechanism for reconciling the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles
In this study, an atmospheric perturbation mechanism is introduced that reconciles the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles.
- Clemens Schannwell
- , Uwe Mikolajewicz
- & Florian Ziemen
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Contamination of 8.2 ka cold climate records by the Storegga tsunami in the Nordic Seas
Tsunamis can disturb sea floor sediments. This study shows that climate records of the famous 8200-year-old cold spell inferred from Norwegian Sea sediments are likely contaminated by tsunami waves from the giant Storegga Landslide.
- Stein Bondevik
- , Bjørg Risebrobakken
- & Finn Løvholt
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The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal
The timing and chronology of the movement of Homo sapiens after migration out of Africa remains unclear. Here, the authors combine a genetic approach with a palaeoecological model to estimate that the Persian Plateau could have been a hub for migration out of Africa, suggesting the environment may have been suitable for population maintenance.
- Leonardo Vallini
- , Carlo Zampieri
- & Luca Pagani
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Deep-sea hiatus record reveals orbital pacing by 2.4 Myr eccentricity grand cycles
Cenozoic deep-sea hiatuses reveal a ~2.4 Myr eccentricity signal corresponding to orbitally-forced intensification of deep-water circulation. The signal is disrupted by a chaotic orbital transition in the Solar System at about 56 Ma.
- Adriana Dutkiewicz
- , Slah Boulila
- & R. Dietmar Müller
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High-latitude platform carbonate deposition constitutes a climate conundrum at the terminal Mesoproterozoic
Deposition of 1.2-billion-year-old Indian limestone in shallow seas near the poles imply balmy conditions of more than 15 °C and significantly higher atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, which expands the spectrum of Earth’s climatic extremes.
- Michiel O. de Kock
- , Ingrit Malatji
- & L. P. Maré
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Reconciling ice core CO2 and land-use change following New World-Old World contact
Ice core records of gradually declining atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) for the period 1450–1700 CE support modelled scenarios of large-scale reorganisation of land use in the Americas following New World-Old World contact.
- Amy C. F. King
- , Thomas K. Bauska
- & Matthew B. Osman
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Geographic range of plants drives long-term climate change
The geographic spread of plants exerted an important control over ancient climate change by modifying continental weathering and carbon burial rates. This effect is investigated using a new coupled vegetation-climate-biogeochemical model.
- Khushboo Gurung
- , Katie J. Field
- & Benjamin J. W. Mills
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Modern anthropogenic drought in Central Brazil unprecedented during last 700 years
Speleothems from the Savanna region in Brazil documents the occurrence of an unprecedented long-term drought driven by anthropogenic forcing. Staring in the 1970´s the current drought is the most severe that has struck the region in the past 700 years.
- Nicolas Misailidis Stríkis
- , Plácido Fabrício Silva Melo Buarque
- & Valdir Felipe Novello
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Spatial patterns of Holocene temperature changes over mid-latitude Eurasia
New alkenone results and existing temperature records together show contrasting Holocene temperature trends and thus display spatial patterns over mid-latitude Eurasia, with implications for the Holocene temperature conundrum.
- Jiawei Jiang
- , Bowen Meng
- & Zhonghui Liu
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Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles of the penultimate and last glacial period recorded in stalagmites from Türkiye
Abrupt millennial-scale climate variability, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events, characterized the last glacial. Stalagmite data from northern Türkiye show D-O events for the penultimate glacial period, though they were less frequent.
- F. Held
- , H. Cheng
- & D. Fleitmann
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East Antarctic warming forced by ice loss during the Last Interglacial
Climate simulations of the Last Interglacial show that Antarctic ice loss induces warming of East Antarctica. Meltwater equivalent to the ice loss induces warming of the subsurface. Both effects can further enhance Antarctic ice sheet deterioration
- David K. Hutchinson
- , Laurie Menviel
- & Andrew McC. Hogg
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Loess deposits in the low latitudes of East Asia reveal the ~20-kyr precipitation cycle
Earth’s orbit has tuned the variations of the East Asian summer monsoon. Here, a low latitude loess palaeoclimate record provides evidence that variation in monsoon rainfall is dominated by the precession cycle.
- Xusheng Li
- , Yuwen Zhou
- & Huayu Lu
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Last millennium hurricane activity linked to endogenous climate variability
The authors present two independent reconstructions and a model simulations of Atlantic hurricane activity over the last millennium and show that it is mainly driven by internal climate variability instead of external forcings.
- Wenchang Yang
- , Elizabeth Wallace
- & Tyler S. Winkler
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The emergence of modern zoogeographic regions in Asia examined through climate–dental trait association patterns
The timing of the emergence of the modern Asian terrestrial biota is unclear. Here, the authors apply redescription mining to herbivore dental trait data, finding that different aspects of modern zoogeographic patterns originated in the Pliocene and Middle and Late Miocene.
- Liping Liu
- , Esther Galbrun
- & Indrė Žliobaitė
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Reconciling Southern Ocean fronts equatorward migration with minor Antarctic ice volume change during Miocene cooling
Hou et al. propose, based on dinocysts, clumped isotopes and ice sheet modelling, that during Miocene cooling, the Antarctic ice sheet progressively lowered in height while expanding seawards, to maintain a relatively stable volume.
- Suning Hou
- , Lennert B. Stap
- & Peter K. Bijl
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Global climate forcing on late Miocene establishment of the Pampean aeolian system in South America
Wind-blown dust accumulation in central South America began during a period of global cooling and has persisted for millions of years. This corresponds with the expansion of the Chinese Loess Plateau and is consistent with bihemispheric forcing.
- Blake Stubbins
- , Andrew L. Leier
- & Mary Kate Fidler
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Dynamic redox and nutrient cycling response to climate forcing in the Mesoproterozoic ocean
Regional ocean redox variability and associated nutrient cycling in the Mesoproterozoic can be explained by climate forcing at individual locations, rather than specific events or step-changes in global oceanic redox conditions.
- Yafang Song
- , Fred T. Bowyer
- & Simon W. Poulton
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Impact of global climate cooling on Ordovician marine biodiversity
The largest increase in marine biodiversity in Earth’s history took place nearly 500 million years ago during a geological period called the Ordovician. This event is well documented based on paleontological data, but its causes are debated. This study uses a numerical model to demonstrate that global climate cooling may have triggered biodiversification at that time.
- Daniel Eliahou Ontiveros
- , Gregory Beaugrand
- & Alexandre Pohl
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Drought as a possible contributor to the Visigothic Kingdom crisis and Islamic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula
Here, the authors compile pollen records from across Iberia and Morocco, comparing them with other paleohydrological and archaeological data, as well as historical sources. Using these data, they suggest that a series of strong droughts could have contributed to the decline of the Visigothic Kingdom and subsequent Islamic expansion.
- Jon Camuera
- , Francisco J. Jiménez-Espejo
- & Manuel Castro-Priego
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Deciphering local and regional hydroclimate resolves contradicting evidence on the Asian monsoon evolution
Distinguishing local hydrological, cave internal, and regional monsoon signals in speleothem records resolves disagreements among proxy reconstructions and illuminates the Holocene evolution of summer and winter monsoon in Southeast Asia.
- Annabel Wolf
- , Vasile Ersek
- & Anh Duc Trinh
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North African humid periods over the past 800,000 years
A climate model identifies that periodic wet phases in the Sahara, termed North African Humid Periods, were driven by Earths orbital variations and were suppressed during glacial periods due to the influence of extensive ice sheets.
- Edward Armstrong
- , Miikka Tallavaara
- & Paul J. Valdes
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Antarctic evidence for an abrupt northward shift of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies at 32 ka BP
Antarctic ice core records provide insights into past environmental conditions. Here, an abrupt, synchronous increase in dust from ice cores in Antarctica is identified that suggests a sudden equatorward shift of westerly winds and coincides with a reduction in atmospheric CO2.
- Abhijith U. Venugopal
- , Nancy A. N. Bertler
- & Marcus J. Vandergoes
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Effects of paleogeographic changes and CO2 variability on northern mid-latitudinal temperature gradients in the Cretaceous
Simulations using a coupled atmosphere-ocean model show that paleogeography-driven reduction in the intensity of surface ocean circulation explains much of the increase in the mid-latitudinal sea surface temperature gradient during the Cretaceous.
- Kaushal Gianchandani
- , Sagi Maor
- & Nathan Paldor
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Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean
The warm last interglacial serves as a period to investigate climate change associated with a weakened AMOC. Here the authors report evidence of Eastern Mediterranean cooling and accompanied atmospheric circulation shifts affecting rainfall.
- Elan J. Levy
- , Hubert B. Vonhof
- & Gerald H. Haug
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Indian Ocean glacial deoxygenation and respired carbon accumulation during mid-late Quaternary ice ages
Ocean oxygenation regulates respired carbon storage and atmospheric CO2. This study applied a novel analysis using magnetic nanoparticle fossils and found glacial Indian Ocean oxygen decline and carbon accumulation to explain recent climate cycles.
- Liao Chang
- , Babette A. A. Hoogakker
- & Richard J. Harrison
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Multi-proxy evidence for sea level fall at the onset of the Eocene-Oligocene transition
Sea level fall with the growth of the Antarctic Ice Sheet 34 million years ago, and the shift in nutrients and carbon from continental margins to the ocean, initially provided a negative feedback that slowed global cooling and ice sheet expansion.
- Marcelo A. De Lira Mota
- , Tom Dunkley Jones
- & James Bendle
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Holocene climate change in southern Oman deciphered by speleothem records and climate model simulations
Southern Oman speleothem oxygen isotope and multi-proxy data reveal diverse changes in the Afro-Indian summer monsoon circulations and local hydroclimate conditions during the Holocene, confirming climate model simulations.
- Ye Tian
- , Dominik Fleitmann
- & Hai Cheng
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A contracting Intertropical Convergence Zone during the Early Heinrich Stadial 1
New and existing paleoclimatic records show the rain-belt range of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Indo-Asian-Australian monsoon region contracted to the northern low latitudes during the early Heinrich Stadial 1
- Yiping Yang
- , Lanlan Zhang
- & Rong Xiang
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Rapid strengthening of westerlies accompanied intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation
The amount and composition of North Pacific dust tracked by rock magnetism suggests that the intensification of North Hemisphere Glaciation ca. 2.7 million years ago marked the permanent crossing of a climate threshold.
- Joshua D. Bridges
- , John A. Tarduno
- & Timothy D. Herbert
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Prehistoric population expansion in Central Asia promoted by the Altai Holocene Climatic Optimum
The impact of climate change on Holocene human activity in the Altai-Sayan region of Central Asia is unclear. Here, the authors use pollen, biogenic silica, and isotope records from lake cores to show that the climate prompted human population expansion and intensified cultural exchange during the Bronze Age.
- Lixiong Xiang
- , Xiaozhong Huang
- & Fahu Chen
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Moist and warm conditions in Eurasia during the last glacial of the Middle Pleistocene Transition
Iberian margin and Chinese Plateau climatic records combined with climate modeling reveal a warm ice age centered at ~730,000 years ago, which would have contributed to the accumulation of ice triggering the transition from the 40,000-year to the current 100,000-year climate cycles.
- María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi
- , Thomas Extier
- & André Bahr
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What the geological past can tell us about the future of the ocean’s twilight zone
Combining geological evidence and modelling, Crichton and others find life in the ocean Twilight Zone (200 m to 1000 m depth) is vulnerable to warming due to lower food supply. High emissions may lead to severe depletion and extinction in this habitat
- Katherine A. Crichton
- , Jamie D. Wilson
- & Paul N. Pearson
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Trends and variability in the Southern Annular Mode over the Common Era
This study uses data assimilation to reconstruct the Southern Annular Mode over the last 2000 years. The authors find that the mode’s history reflects natural climate variability, except for the most-recent positive trend
- Jonathan King
- , Kevin J. Anchukaitis
- & Amy Hessl
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Dynamic and thermodynamic influences on precipitation in Northeast Mexico on orbital to millennial timescales
A stalagmite hydroclimate record (Tamaulipas, Mexico) from 62.5 to 5.1 ka showed (1) Atlantic and Pacific temperatures impacted precipitation changes and (2) there were dry conditions during Heinrich Stadials, possibly because moisture shifted south.
- Kevin T. Wright
- , Kathleen R. Johnson
- & Laura Beramendi-Orosco
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Multiple episodes of ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin during the Last Interglacial
Sedimentary records from offshore of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet support two episodes of ice loss during the last interglacial period (130-115 ka), leading to elevated global sea levels under global mean temperatures similar to the present day.
- Mutsumi Iizuka
- , Osamu Seki
- & Saiko Sugisaki
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Centennial scale sequences of environmental deterioration preceded the end-Permian mass extinction
The exact drivers for the end-Permian mass extinction remain controversial. This study reveals a turning point with the exhaustion of the terrestrial input and a strong fertilization of the marine realm leading to the demise of marine ecosystems.
- Ryosuke Saito
- , Lars Wörmer
- & Kai-Uwe Hinrichs
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East Gobi megalake systems reveal East Asian Monsoon dynamics over the last interglacial-glacial cycle
A Gobi Desert megalake system reconstruction enables a quantitative estimate of East Asian Monsoon climate for the last two interglacials and provides insights into dust flux variations across East Asia and northern Pacific
- Hongwei Li
- , Xiaoping Yang
- & Xuefeng Wang
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Middle Pleistocene re-organization of Australian Monsoon
The response of monsoons to climate change remains uncertain. Here, the authors show that the Australian Summer Monsoon was primarily driven by insolation forcing but exhibited high sensitivity to ice volume and pCO2 after ~0.95 Ma. By contrast, wind-driven winter productivity tracked glacial-interglacial variability over the past 1.6 Myr.
- Li Gong
- , Ann Holbourn
- & Nils Andersen
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Atmospheric CO2 forcing on Mediterranean biomes during the past 500 kyrs
A 500 kyr long record of vegetation change from SE Europe demonstrates that forest resilience is lost when precipitation decreases below a threshold limit, and highlights the vulnerability of Mediterranean forests to near-future climate change
- Andreas Koutsodendris
- , Vasilis Dakos
- & Jörg Pross
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Weakening of the South Asian summer monsoon linked to interhemispheric ice-sheet growth since 12 Ma
The εNd record from the IODP Exp. 359 Site U1467 in the northern Indian Ocean, along with climate modeling, reveals a two-step weakening of the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) wind since 12 Ma. The SASM evolution was mainly caused by interhemispheric ice-sheet growth since the Middle Miocene.
- Zhengquan Yao
- , Xuefa Shi
- & Pavan Miriyala
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Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes
Fisher et al. combine sediment geochemistry and climate modelling to reveal long-term synchrony between erosion rates and orbitally-driven climate oscillations in the tectonically-active southern Central Andes.
- G. Burch Fisher
- , Lisa V. Luna
- & Lucas J. Lourens
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Mercury evidence from southern Pangea terrestrial sections for end-Permian global volcanic effects
Mercury (Hg) concentrations and isotopes from terrestrial sections of southern Pangea provide evidence of the global volcanic effects of the Siberian Traps during the Permian-Triassic transition
- Jun Shen
- , Jiubin Chen
- & Tamsin A. Mather
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Clay hydroxyl isotopes show an enhanced hydrologic cycle during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Novel measurements of clay hydroxyl isotopic composition show an enhanced hydrological cycle during a period of intense global warming at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary 55.9 million years ago.
- Gregory L. Walters
- , Simon J. Kemp
- & David A. Hodell
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Low atmospheric CO2 levels before the rise of forested ecosystems
Dahl et al. present new evidence based on leaf gas-exchange in primitive vascular plants and fossil remains of some of their earliest ancestors. This alters our thinking on how plants impacted the Earth System and climate.
- Tais W. Dahl
- , Magnus A. R. Harding
- & Christopher K. Junium
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Modern-like deep water circulation in Indian Ocean caused by Central American Seaway closure
Deep ocean circulation plays a crucial role in controlling global climate. What caused on-set of modern like circulation in geological past remains unknown. New research finds constriction of the Central American Seaway caused on-set of modern-like circulation in Indian Ocean since the late-Miocene (~6 Ma).
- Priyesh Prabhat
- , Waliur Rahaman
- & Meloth Thamban
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A dimensionless framework for predicting submarine fan morphology
Submarine fans play an important role in routing sediment in continental and deep water settings. Here the authors develop a framework is to explain the shape of submarine fans using a numerical model framework which can either predict seafloor topography from turbidity current flow properties or infer these flow properties from seafloor topography.
- Abdul Wahab
- , David C. Hoyal
- & Kyle M. Straub
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The extreme yet transient nature of glacial erosion
Glacial erosion processes over geological timescales are poorly understood. Here the authors apply an observationally constrained model to reconstruct the evolving thermodynamics and transient erosional signature of the Eurasian Ice Sheet over the last 100,000-year ice age to reveal how it profoundly sculpted but also protected the landscape visible today
- H. Patton
- , A. Hubbard
- & K. Andreassen
Ocean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene