Description: Highlights: • Threshold behavior in AMOC stability as response to freshwater perturbations in different background climate conditions. • The AMOC was more stable to freshwater forcing under glacial conditions, e.g. LGM. • Millennial-scale Dansgaard–Oeschger-type climate variability suppressed due to more stable ocean circulation. Abstract: Paleoclimatic records reveal that millennial-scale climate variability during the Pleistocene was most pronounced during intermediate glacial conditions, like Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3), rather than during interglacial and fully glaciated climates, like the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The rapid transitions between cold stadials and warm interstadials recorded in Greenland ice cores during MIS3, referred to as Dansgaard–Oeschger (D-O) events, have been correlated with millennial-scale climate variations worldwide. Although the origin of D-O events is a matter of controversy, striking evidence shows that variations in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) were involved. Therefore, understanding the stability properties of the ocean circulation under different background climate conditions is key to understanding D-O millennial-scale climate variability. In the present study, the stability of the AMOC to northern high-latitude freshwater perturbations under MIS3 and LGM boundary conditions is investigated by using the coupled climate model CCSM3. Stability diagrams constructed from a large set of equilibrium experiments reveal a nonlinear dependence of AMOC strength on freshwater forcing under both MIS3 and LGM conditions. The MIS3 baseline state is close to an AMOC stability threshold, which makes the MIS3 climate unstable with respect to minor perturbations. A similar threshold behavior in AMOC stability is observed under LGM conditions; however, larger freshwater perturbations are necessary to pass the threshold and weaken the AMOC. The threshold’s displacement relative to the MIS3 background climate is attributable to differences in the atmospheric hydrologic cycle and North Atlantic sea ice transport. Different atmospheric moisture transports are attributable to thermodynamic and dynamic processes related to differences in greenhouse gas forcing and ice-sheet height between MIS3 and the LGM. We conclude that the higher stability of the AMOC during the LGM is a physically plausible explanation for millennial-scale D-O-type climate variability being suppressed under full glacial conditions, whereas minor perturbations in freshwater fluxes could have triggered D-O climate shifts during MIS3.

Description: Despite its great ecological importance, the main factors governing tree cover in tropical savannas as well as savanna-forest boundaries are still largely unknown. Here we address this issue by investigating marine sediment records of long-chain n-alkane stable carbon (δ13Cwax) and hydrogen (δDwax) isotopes from a core collected off eastern tropical South America spanning the last ca. 45 thousand years. While δ13Cwax is a proxy for the main photosynthetic pathway of terrestrial vegetation, tracking the relative proportion of C3 (mainly trees) versus C4 (mainly grasses) plants, δDwax is a proxy for continental precipitation, tracking the intensity of rainfall. The investigated core was collected off the mouth of the São Francisco River drainage basin, a tropical savanna-dominated region with dry austral autumn, winter and spring. On top of millennial-scale changes, driven by anomalies in the amount of precipitation associated with Heinrich Stadials, we identify a marked obliquity control over the expansion and contraction of tree and grass cover. During periods of maximum (minimum) obliquity, trees (grasses) reached maximum coverage. We suggest that maximum (minimum) obliquity decreased (increased) the length of the dry season allowing (hampering) the expansion of tree-dominated vegetation. Periods of maximum obliquity induced an anomalous heating (cooling) of the summer (winter) hemisphere that in combination with a delayed response of the climate system slightly increased autumn precipitation over the São Francisco River drainage basin, through a shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone towards or further into the anomalously heated hemisphere. We found that atmospheric CO2 concentration has only a secondary effect on tree cover. Our results underline the importance of the dry season length as a governing factor in the long-term control of tree cover in tropical landscapes.

Description: Highlights: • Temperature anomalies for the Mid-Holocene compared to preindustrial are significantly different in the low- and high-resolution versions of the atmospheric model ECHAM5 • For summer, shortwave cloud radiative forcing emerges as an important factor. • For boreal winter, differences are mainly related to circulation changes. • Anomaly differences are regionally as large as the mid-Holocene minus preindustrial temperature signals. Abstract: This study evaluates the dependence of simulated surface air temperatures on model resolution and orography for the mid-Holocene. Sensitivity experiments with the atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM5 are performed with low (∼3.75°, 19 vertical levels) and high (∼1.1°, 31 vertical levels) resolution. Results are compared to the respective preindustrial runs. It is found that the large-scale temperature anomalies for the mid-Holocene (compared to preindustrial) are significantly different in the low- and high-resolution versions. For boreal winter, differences are mainly related to circulation changes caused by the response to thermal forcing in conjunction with orographic resolution. For summer, shortwave cloud radiative forcing emerges as an important factor. The anomaly differences (low minus high resolution version) in the Northern Hemisphere are regionally as large as the anomalous mid-Holocene temperature signals. Furthermore, they depend on the applied surface boundary conditions. We conclude that the resolution matters for the Northern Hemisphere response in mid-Holocene simulations, which should be taken into account in model-model and data-model comparisons.