Gradual onset and recovery of the Younger Dryas abrupt climate event in the tropics.
Proxy records of temperature from the Atlantic clearly show that the Younger Dryas was an abrupt climate change event during the last deglaciation, but records of hydroclimate are underutilized in defining the event. Here we combine a new hydroclimate record from Palawan, Philippines, in the tropical Pacific, with previously published records to highlight a difference between hydroclimate and temperature responses to the Younger Dryas. Although the onset and termination are synchronous across the records, tropical hydroclimate changes are more gradual (>100 years) than the abrupt (10-100 years) temperature changes in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The abrupt recovery of Greenland temperatures likely reflects changes in regional sea ice extent. Proxy data and transient climate model simulations support the hypothesis that freshwater forced a reduction in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, thereby causing the Younger Dryas. However, changes in ocean overturning may not produce the same effects globally as in Greenland.
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.
J W
JW
Partin
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.|Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
T M
TM
Quinn
High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, ROC.
C-C
CC
Shen
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.
Y
Y
Okumura
Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
M B
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6270-3105
MB
Cardenas
Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
F P
FP
Siringan
Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
J L
JL
Banner
High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, ROC.
K
K
Lin
High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, ROC.
H-M
HM
Hu
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.
F W
FW
Taylor