Description: Fossils of marine microorganisms such as planktic foraminifera are among the cornerstones of palaeoclimatological studies. It is often assumed that the proxies derived from their shells represent ocean conditions above the location where they were deposited. Planktic foraminifera, however, are carried by ocean currents and, depending on the life traits of the species, potentially incorporate distant ocean conditions. Here we use high-resolution ocean models to assess the footprint of planktic foraminifera and validate our method with proxy analyses from two locations. Results show that foraminifera, and thus recorded palaeoclimatic conditions, may originate from areas up to several thousands of kilometres away, reflecting an ocean state significantly different from the core site. In the eastern equatorial regions and the western boundary current extensions, the offset may reach 1.5 °C for species living for a month and 3.0 °C for longer-living species. Oceanic transport hence appears to be a crucial aspect in the interpretation of proxy signals.

Description: The last extended time period when climate may have been warmer than today was during the Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 129 to 120 thousand years ago). However, a global view of LIG precipitation is lacking. Here, seven new LIG climate models are compared to the first global database of proxies for LIG precipitation. In this way, models are assessed in their ability to capture important hydroclimatic processes during a different climate. The models can reproduce the proxy-based positive precipitation anomalies from the preindustrial period over much of the boreal continents. Over the Southern Hemisphere, proxy-model agreement is partial. In models, LIG boreal monsoons have 42% wider area than in the preindustrial and produce 55% more precipitation and 50% more extreme precipitation. Austral monsoons are weaker. The mechanisms behind these changes are consistent with stronger summer radiative forcing over boreal high latitudes and with the associated higher temperatures during the LIG.

Description: We investigate hydrology during a past climate slightly warmer than the present: the Last Interglacial (LIG). With daily output of pre‐industrial and LIG simulations from eight new climate models we force hydrological model PCR‐GLOBWB, and in turn hydrodynamic model CaMa‐Flood. Compared to pre‐industrial, annual mean LIG runoff, discharge, and 100‐year flood volume are considerably larger in the Northern Hemisphere, by 14%, 25% and 82%, respectively. Anomalies are negative in the Southern Hemisphere. In some boreal regions, LIG runoff and discharge are lower despite higher precipitation, due the higher temperatures and evaporation. LIG discharge is much higher for the Niger, Congo, Nile, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Pearl, and lower for the Mississippi, Saint Lawrence, Amazon, Paraná, Orange, Zambesi, Danube, Ob. Discharge is seasonally postponed in tropical rivers affected by monsoon changes. Results agree with published proxies on the sign of discharge anomaly in 15 of 23 sites where comparison is possible.

Description: The modeling of paleoclimate, using physically based tools, is increasingly seen as a strong out-of-sample test of the models that are used for the projection of future climate changes. New to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) is the Tier 1 Last Interglacial experiment for 127 000 years ago (lig127k), designed to address the climate responses to stronger orbital forcing than the midHolocene experiment, using the same state-of-the-art models as for the future and following a common experimental protocol. Here we present a first analysis of a multi-model ensemble of 17 climate models, all of which have completed the CMIP6 DECK (Diagnostic, Evaluation and Characterization of Klima) experiments. The equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of these models varies from 1.8 to 5.6 ∘C. The seasonal character of the insolation anomalies results in strong summer warming over the Northern Hemisphere continents in the lig127k ensemble as compared to the CMIP6 piControl and much-reduced minimum sea ice in the Arctic. The multi-model results indicate enhanced summer monsoonal precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere and reductions in the Southern Hemisphere. These responses are greater in the lig127k than the CMIP6 midHolocene simulations as expected from the larger insolation anomalies at 127 than 6 ka. New synthesis for surface temperature and precipitation, targeted for 127 ka, have been developed for comparison to the multi-model ensemble. The lig127k model ensemble and data reconstructions are in good agreement for summer temperature anomalies over Canada, Scandinavia, and the North Atlantic and for precipitation over the Northern Hemisphere continents. The model–data comparisons and mismatches point to further study of the sensitivity of the simulations to uncertainties in the boundary conditions and of the uncertainties and sparse coverage in current proxy reconstructions. The CMIP6–Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP4) lig127k simulations, in combination with the proxy record, improve our confidence in future projections of monsoons, surface temperature, and Arctic sea ice, thus providing a key target for model evaluation and optimization.

Description: Rapid changes in ocean circulation and climate have been observed in marine-sediment and ice cores over the last glacial period and deglaciation, highlighting the non-linear character of the climate system and underlining the possibility of rapid climate shifts in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. To date, these rapid changes in climate and ocean circulation are still not fully explained. One obstacle hindering progress in our understanding of the interactions between past ocean circulation and climate changes is the difficulty of accurately dating marine cores. Here, we present a set of 92 marine sediment cores from the Atlantic Ocean for which we have established age-depth models that are consistent with the Greenland GICC05 ice core chronology, and computed the associated dating uncertainties, using a new deposition modeling technique. This is the first set of consistently dated marine sediment cores enabling paleoclimate scientists to evaluate leads/lags between circulation and climate changes over vast regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, this data set is of direct use in paleoclimate modeling studies.

Description: The last extended time period when climate may have been warmer than today was during the Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 129 to 120 thousand years ago). However, a global view of LIG precipitation is lacking. Here, seven new LIG climate models are compared to the first global database of proxies for LIG precipitation. In this way, models are assessed in their ability to capture important hydroclimatic processes during a different climate. The models can reproduce the proxy-based positive precipitation anomalies from the preindustrial period over much of the boreal continents. Over the Southern Hemisphere, proxy-model agreement is partial. In models, LIG boreal monsoons have 42% wider area than in the preindustrial and produce 55% more precipitation and 50% more extreme precipitation. Austral monsoons are weaker. The mechanisms behind these changes are consistent with stronger summer radiative forcing over boreal high latitudes and with the associated higher temperatures during the LIG.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Waelbroeck, C., Lougheed, B. C., Riveiros, N. V., Missiaen, L., Pedro, J., Dokken, T., Hajdas, I., Wacker, L., Abbott, P., Dumoulin, J., Thil, F., Eynaud, F., Rossignol, L., Fersi, W., Albuquerque, A. L., Arz, H., Austin, W. E. N., Came, R., Carlson, A. E., Collins, J. A., Dennielou, B., Desprat, S., Dickson, A., Elliot, M., Farmer, C., Giraudeau, J., Gottschalk, J., Henderiks, J., Hughen, K., Jung, S., Knutz, P., Lebreiro, S., Lund, D. C., Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Malaize, B., Marchitto, T., Martinez-Mendez, G., Mollenhauer, G., Naughton, F., Nave, S., Nuernberg, D., Oppo, D., Peck, V., Peeters, F. J. C., Penaud, A., Portilho-Ramos, R. d. C., Repschlaeger, J., Roberts, J., Ruehlemann, C., Salgueiro, E., Goni, M. F. S., Schonfeld, J., Scussolini, P., Skinner, L. C., Skonieczny, C., Thornalley, D., Toucanne, S., Van Rooij, D., Vidal, L., Voelker, A. H. L., Wary, M., Weldeab, S., & Ziegler, M. Consistently dated Atlantic sediment cores over the last 40 thousand years. Scientific Data, 6, (2019): 165, doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0173-8.

Description: Rapid changes in ocean circulation and climate have been observed in marine-sediment and ice cores over the last glacial period and deglaciation, highlighting the non-linear character of the climate system and underlining the possibility of rapid climate shifts in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. To date, these rapid changes in climate and ocean circulation are still not fully explained. One obstacle hindering progress in our understanding of the interactions between past ocean circulation and climate changes is the difficulty of accurately dating marine cores. Here, we present a set of 92 marine sediment cores from the Atlantic Ocean for which we have established age-depth models that are consistent with the Greenland GICC05 ice core chronology, and computed the associated dating uncertainties, using a new deposition modeling technique. This is the first set of consistently dated marine sediment cores enabling paleoclimate scientists to evaluate leads/lags between circulation and climate changes over vast regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, this data set is of direct use in paleoclimate modeling studies.

Description: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013 Grant agreement n° 339108). New 14C dates for cores EW9209-1JPC and V29-202 were funded by NSF OCE grants to DWO. FN, ES and AV acknowledge FCT funding support through project UID/Multi/04326/2019. We thank T. Garlan and P. Guyomard for having given us access to cores from the Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine. We acknowledge N. Smialkowski for help with formatting the data into text files, and L. Mauclair, L. Leroy and G. Isguder for the picking of numerous foraminifer samples for radiocarbon dating. We are grateful to S. Obrochta, E. Cortijo, E. Michel, F. Bassinot, J.C. Duplessy, and L. Labeyrie for advice and fruitful discussions. This paper is LSCE contribution 6572.

Description: The upper branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation predominantly enters the Atlantic Ocean through the southeast, where the subtropical gyre is exposed to the influence of the Agulhas leakage (AL). To understand how the transfer of Indian Ocean waters via the AL affected the upper water column of this region, we have generated new proxy records of planktic foraminifera from a core on the central Walvis Ridge, on the eastern flank of the South Atlantic Gyre (SAG). We analyzed the isotopic composition of subsurface dweller Globigerinoides ruber sensu lato, and thermocline Globorotalia truncatulinoides sinistral, spanning the last five Pleistocene glacial-interglacial (G-IG) cycles. The former displays a response to obliquity, suggesting connection with high latitude forcing, and a warming tendency during each glacial termination, in response to the interhemispheric seesaw. The d18O difference between the two species, interpreted as a proxy for upper ocean stratification, reveals a remarkably regular sawtooth pattern, bound to G-IG cyclicity. It rises from interglacials until glacial terminations, with fast subsequent decrease, appearing to promptly respond to deglacial peaks of AL. Stratification, however, bears a different structure during the last cycle, being minimal at Last Glacial Maximum, and peaking at Termination I. We suggest this to be the result of the intensified glacial wind field over the SAG and/or of the invasion of the South Atlantic thermocline by Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Waters. The d13C time series of the two species have similar G-IG pattern, whereas their difference is higher during interglacials. We propose that this may be the result of the alternation of intermediate water masses in different circulation modes, and of a regionally more efficient biological pump at times of high pCO2.

Description: Salty and warm Indian Ocean waters enter the South Atlantic via the Agulhas leakage, south of Africa. Model simulations and proxy evidence of Agulhas leakage strengthening during glacial terminations led to the hypothesis that it was an important modulator of the Atlantic Ocean circulation. Yet, the fate of the leakage salinity and temperature anomalies remains undocumented beyond the southern tip of Africa. Downstream of the leakage, new paleoceanographic evidence from the central Walvis Ridge (southeast Atlantic) shows that salinity increased at the thermocline, and less so at the surface, during glacial termination II. Thermocline salinity change coincided with higher frequency of Agulhas rings passage at the core location and with salinity maxima in the Agulhas leakage area, suggesting that leakage waters were incorporated in the Atlantic circulation through the thermocline. Hydrographic changes at the Walvis Ridge and in the leakage area display a distinct two-step structure, with a reversal at ca. 134 ka. This matched a wet interlude within the East Asia weak monsoon interval of termination II, and a short-lived North Atlantic warming. Such concurrence points to a Bølling-Allerød-like recovery of the Atlantic circulation amidst termination II, with a northward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Southern Hemisphere westerlies, and attendant curtailment of the interocean connection south of Africa.