Magnitude and timing of temperature change in the Indo-Pacific warm pool during deglaciation

Katherine Visser, Robert Thunell () and Lowell Stott
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Katherine Visser: University of South Carolina
Robert Thunell: University of South Carolina
Lowell Stott: University of Southern California

Nature, 2003, vol. 421, issue 6919, 152-155

Abstract: Abstract Ocean–atmosphere interactions in the tropical Pacific region have a strong influence on global heat and water vapour transport and thus constitute an important component of the climate system1,2. Changes in sea surface temperatures and convection in the tropical Indo-Pacific region are thought to be responsible for the interannual to decadal climate variability observed in extra-tropical regions1,3, but the role of the tropics in climate changes on millennial and orbital timescales is less clear. Here we analyse oxygen isotopes and Mg/Ca ratios of foraminiferal shells from the Makassar strait in the heart of the Indo-Pacific warm pool, to obtain synchronous estimates of sea surface temperatures and ice volume. We find that sea surface temperatures increased by 3.5–4.0 °C during the last two glacial—interglacial transitions, synchronous with the global increase in atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic warming, but the temperature increase occurred 2,000–3,000 years before the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets melted. Our observations suggest that the tropical Pacific region plays an important role in driving glacial—interglacial cycles, possibly through a system similar to how El Niño/Southern Oscillation regulates the poleward flux of heat and water vapour.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01297

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