In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 14, No. 1 ( 2023-05-10)
Abstract:
The end of the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT, ~ 800-670 thousand years before present, ka) was characterised by the emergence of large glacial ice-sheets associated with anomalously warm North Atlantic sea surface temperatures enhancing moisture production. Still, the direction and intensity of moisture transport across Eurasia towards potential ice-sheets is poorly constrained. To reconstruct late MPT moisture production and dispersal, we combine records of upper ocean temperature and pollen-based Mediterranean forest cover, a tracer of westerlies and precipitation, from a subtropical drill-core collected off South-West Iberia, with records of East Asia summer monsoon (EASM) strength and West Pacific surface temperatures, and model simulations. Here we show that south-western European winter precipitation and EASM strength reached high levels during the Marine Isotope Stage 18 glacial. This anomalous situation was caused by nearly-continuous moisture supply from both oceans and its transport to higher latitudes through the westerlies, likely fuelling the accelerated expansion of northern hemisphere ice-sheets during the late MPT.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-023-38337-4
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0
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