European Geosciences Union, Climate of the Past Discussions, 2(10), p. 1179-1222
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Glacial climate was characterised by two types of abrupt events. Greenland ice cores record Dansgaard–Oeschger events, marked by abrupt warming in-between cold, stadial phases. Six of these stadials coincide with major Heinrich events (HE), identified from ice-rafted debris (IRD) and large excursions in carbon and oxygen stable isotopic ratios in North Atlantic deep sea sediments, documenting major ice sheet collapse events. This finding has led to the paradigm that glacial cold events are induced by the response of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to such massive freshwater inputs, supported by sensitivity studies conducted with climate models of various complexities. This mechanism could however never be confirmed or infirmed because the exact timing of Heinrich events and associated low latitude hydrological cycle changes with respect to Greenland stadials has so far remained elusive. Here, we provide the first multi-proxy fingerprint of H4 within Stadial 9 in Greenland ice cores through ice and air proxies of low latitude climate and water cycle changes. Our new dataset demonstrates that Stadial 9 consists of three phases, characterised first by Greenland cooling during 550 ± 60 years (as shown by markers of Greenland temperature δ 18 O and δ 15 N), followed by the fingerprint of Heinrich Event 4 as identified from several proxy records (abrupt decrease in 17 O excess and Greenland methane sulfonic acid (MSA), increase in CO 2 and methane mixing ratio, heavier δ D-CH 4 and δ 18 O atm ), lasting 740 ± 60 years, itself ending approximately 390 ± 50 years prior to abrupt Greenland warming. Preliminary investigations on GS-13 encompassing H5, based on the ice core proxies δ 18 O, MSA, δ 18 O atm , CH 4 and CO 2 data also reveal a 3 phase structure, as well as the same sequence of events. The decoupling between stable cold Greenland temperature and low latitude HE imprints provides new targets for benchmarking climate model simulations and testing mechanisms associated with millennial variability.