Subtropical Eastern Atlantic Climate During the Eemian

摘要

Rapid oscillations have been found in the oxygen isotope record of the GRIP ice core during the Eemian/Marine oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e. Terrestrial climate records suggest that these variations may indeed be indicative of rapid climate changes during this period. In contrast, the GISP2 ice core and some Atlantic deep-sea records suggest no such variations, while other deep-sea records suggest that there was an intra-Eemian freshening and cooling of the Norwegian Sea and North East Atlantic. We present here an extremely high-resolution set of marine proxies from the low-latitude East Atlantic Margin (ODP Site 658), which suggest that, in general, MIS 5e was climatically very stable. However, we observe that MIS-5e contains one significant short cold spell ( < 400 years), which is marked by a reduced upper North Atlantic deep water ventilation. Despite no direct age correlation being possible, this cold spell may reflect the cause of the cold interval implied by the European terrestrial records. This brief cold spell did not affect the overall stability of MIS 5 e. Our records are also incompatible with those of the GRIP ice core record, supporting the suggestion that the GRIP Eemain record has been altered by ice tectonics.