One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica

C. Barbante (1, 2, 3) , Jean-Marc Barnola (3, 4) , Silvia Becagli (3, 5) , J. Beer (3, 6) , M. Bigler (3, 7) , Claude F. Boutron (3, 4) , T. Blunier (3, 7) , E. Castellano (3, 5) , O. Cattani (8, 9) , Jérome Chappellaz (3, 4) , D. Dahl-Jensen (3) , Maxime Debret (4) , Barbara Delmonte (10) , D. Dick , S. Falourd (8, 9) , S. Faria (3) , U. Federer (3) , Hubertus Fischer (11) , J. Freitag (11) , A. Frenzel (11) , D. Fritzsche (11) , F. Fundel (11) , Paolo Gabrielli (1, 4) , V. Gaspari (10) , R. Gersonde (11) , W. Graf (12) , D. Grigoriev (13) , I. Hamann (11) , M. Hansson (14) , G. Hoffmann (8, 9) , M. A. Hutterli (7, 15) , P. Huybrechts (11, 16) , E. Isaksson (17) , S. Johnsen (7) , Jean Jouzel (8, 9) , M. Kaczmarska (17) , T. Karlin (14) , P. Kaufmann (7) , S. Kipfstuhl (11) , M. Kohno (11) , F. Lambert (7) , Anja Lambrecht (11) , Astrid Lambrecht (11) , A. Landais (8, 9) , G. Lawer (11) , M. Leuenberger (7) , G. Littot (15) , L. Loulergue (4) , D. Lüthi (7) , V. Maggi (10) , F. Marino (10) , Valérie Masson-Delmotte (8, 9) , H. Meyer (11) , H. Miller (11) , R. Mulvaney (15) , B. Narcisi (18) , J. Oerlemans (19) , H. Oerter (11) , F. Parrenin (4) , Jean-Robert Petit (4) , G. Raisbeck (20) , D. Raynaud (4) , R. Röthlisberger (15) , U. Ruth (11) , O. Rybak (11) , M. Severi (5) , J. Schmitt (11) , J. Schwander (7) , U. Siegenthaler (7) , M. L. Siggaard-Andersen (3) , R. Spahni (7) , J. P. Steffensen (3) , B. Stenni (21) , T. F. Stocker (7) , J. L. Tison (22) , R. Traversi (5) , R. Udisti (5) , F. Valero-Delgado (11) , M. R. van den Broeke (19) , R. S. W. Wan de Wal (19) , D. Wagenbach (23) , A. Wegner (11) , K. Weiler (11) , F. Wilhelms (11) , J. G. Winther (17) , E. Wolff (15)

1 Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes-CNR
2 Department of Environmental Sciences
3 NBI - Niels Bohr Institute [Copenhagen]
4 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
5 Department of Chemistry
6 EAWAG - Swiss Federal Insitute of Aquatic Science and Technology [Dübendorf]
7 CEP - Climate and Environmental Physics [Bern]
8 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
9 GLACCIOS - Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables
10 Department of Environmental Sciences
11 Department of Bentho-pelagic processes
12 GSF - Forschungszentrum fur Umwelt und Gesundheit
13 UCL - University College of London [London]
14 Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology
15 BAS - British Antarctic Survey
16 Departement Geografie
17 Norwegian Polar Institute
18 ENEA - Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development [Frascati]
19 IMAU - Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research [Utrecht]
20 CSNSM - Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse
21 Department of Geological, Environmental and Marine Sciences [Trieste]
22 Département des Sciences de la Terre
23 IUP - Institute of Environmental Physics [Heidelberg]

Precise knowledge of the phase relationship between climate changes in the two hemispheres is a key for understanding the Earth's climate dynamics. For the last glacial period, ice core studies1, 2 have revealed strong coupling of the largest millennial-scale warm events in Antarctica with the longest Dansgaard–Oeschger events in Greenland3, 4, 5 through the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation6, 7, 8. It has been unclear, however, whether the shorter Dansgaard–Oeschger events have counterparts in the shorter and less prominent Antarctic temperature variations, and whether these events are linked by the same mechanism. Here we present a glacial climate record derived from an ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, which represents South Atlantic climate at a resolution comparable with the Greenland ice core records. After methane synchronization with an ice core from North Greenland9, the oxygen isotope record from the Dronning Maud Land ice core shows a one-to-one coupling between all Antarctic warm events and Greenland Dansgaard–Oeschger events by the bipolar seesaw6. The amplitude of the Antarctic warm events is found to be linearly dependent on the duration of the concurrent stadial in the North, suggesting that they all result from a similar reduction in the meridional overturning circulation.

Domains: Glaciology

C. Barbante, Jean-Marc Barnola, Silvia Becagli, J. Beer, M. Bigler, et al.. One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica. Nature, 2006, 444, pp.195 à 198. ⟨10.1038/nature05301⟩. ⟨insu-00375263⟩