Moist and warm conditions in Eurasia during the last glacial of the Middle Pleistocene Transition

María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi (), Thomas Extier, Josué M. Polanco-Martínez, Coralie Zorzi, Teresa Rodrigues and André Bahr
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María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE, PSL University)
Thomas Extier: Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, EPOC, UMR 5805
Josué M. Polanco-Martínez: University of Salamanca
Coralie Zorzi: Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, EPOC, UMR 5805
Teresa Rodrigues: Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera
André Bahr: Heidelberg University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38337-4

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