Coupled Impacts of Atmospheric Circulation and Sea-Ice on Late Pleistocene Terrigenous Sediment Dynamics in the Subarctic Pacific Ocean

Summary, in English

Processes controlling environmental change in the subarctic Pacific Ocean on millennial to orbital timescales are not well understood. Here we use a 230-kyr sedimentary record from the northwest Pacific Ocean to assess the response of late Pleistocene sediment dynamics to orbital forcing. Combining a source-to-sink perspective based on sedimentological records with climate model reanalysis, we reveal that fluctuations in sediment provenance were closely linked to obliquity-forced changes in atmospheric circulation modes. Specifically, the position of the Aleutian Low controlled sediment transport from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Arc sources. Furthermore, a distinct shift in North Pacific ocean circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum may have been related to a strengthened Siberian High. The coincidence of atmospheric mode switches with changes in sea-ice extent and North Pacific Intermediate Water formation in the marginal seas suggests that this coupled ocean-atmosphere system may have acted as a regional amplifier of global climate variability.

• Author: Yi Zhong; Yanguang Liu; Xun Gong; David J. Wilson; Zhengyao Lu; Jiabo Liu; Tengfei Song; Sergey A. Gorbarenko; Xuefa Shi; Xiaoqiang Yang; Qingsong Liu
• Department/s: Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC); MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system; Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
• Publishing year: 2021-10-16
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Geophysical Research Letters
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 19
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095312
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Topic: Geology; Climate Research
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0094-8276