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Foto Zhengyao Lu

Zhengyao Lu

Researcher

Foto Zhengyao Lu

Role of land-ocean interactions in stepwise Northern Hemisphere Glaciation

Author

  • Yi Zhong
  • Ning Tan
  • Jordan T. Abell
  • Chijun Sun
  • Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr
  • Heather L. Ford
  • Timothy D. Herbert
  • Alex Pullen
  • Keiji Horikawa
  • Jimin Yu
  • Torben Struve
  • Michael E. Weber
  • Peter D. Clift
  • Juan C. Larrasoaña
  • Zhengyao Lu
  • Hu Yang
  • André Bahr
  • Tianyu Chen
  • Jingyu Zhang
  • Cao Wei
  • Wenyue Xia
  • Sheng Yang
  • Qingsong Liu
Show all

Summary, in English

The investigation of triggers causing the onset and intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG) during the late Pliocene is essential for understanding the global climate system, with important implications for projecting future climate changes. Despite their critical roles in the global climate system, influences of land-ocean interactions on high-latitude ice sheets remain largely unexplored. Here, we present a high-resolution Asian dust record from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1208 in the North Pacific, which lies along the main route of the westerlies. Our data indicate that atmosphere-land-ocean interactions affected aeolian dust emissions through modulating moisture and vegetation in dust source regions, highlighting a critical role of terrestrial systems in initiating the NHG as early as 3.6 Myr ago. Combined with additional multi-proxy and model results, we further show that westerly wind strength was enhanced, mainly at low-to-middle tropospheric levels, during major glacial events at about 3.3 and 2.7 Myr ago. We suggest that coupled responses of Earth’s surface dynamics and atmospheric circulation in the Plio-Pleistocene likely involved feedbacks related to changes in paleogeography, ocean circulation, and global climate.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2024-12

Language

English

Publication/Series

Nature Communications

Volume

15

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Climate Science

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2041-1723