Enhanced deep Southern Ocean stratification during the lukewarm interglacials

Huang, Huang; Fietzke, Jan; Gutjahr, Marcus; Frank, Martin; Kuhn, Gerhard; Zhang, Xu; Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter; Li, Dengfeng; Hu, Jingyan; Yu, Jimin

Enhanced deep Southern Ocean stratification during the lukewarm interglacials

Huang, Huang; Fietzke, Jan; Gutjahr, Marcus; Frank, Martin; Kuhn, Gerhard; Zhang, Xu; Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0240-7317; Li, Dengfeng; Hu, Jingyan; Yu, Jimin. 2025 Enhanced deep Southern Ocean stratification during the lukewarm interglacials. Nature Communications, 16, 8856 (2025). 10.1038/s41467-025-63938-6

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Official URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63938-6

Abstract/Summary

Between ~800 and 430 thousand years ago lukewarm interglacials were characterized by lower atmospheric CO2 levels and colder Antarctic temperatures than subsequent interglacials. The Southern Ocean is thought to have played a crucial role, but associated ocean circulation changes remain poorly constrained, at least in part, due to the scarcity of proxy data. By using a novel 2D laser ablation technique, we here provide the first orbital-resolution Southern Ocean seawater Pb isotope records over the past 800 thousand years from a ferromanganese crust located at mid-depth (~1.6 km water depth) on Antarctica’s Pacific margin. Our results reveal systematically higher 208Pb/206Pb ratios during lukewarm interglacials than during more recent interglacials while 206Pb/204Pb ratios remained similar, suggesting reduced vertical deep-water mixing in the Southern Ocean during lukewarm interglacials. By enhancing deep-sea carbon sequestration and thereby lowering atmospheric CO2, strengthened deep Southern Ocean stratification likely imposed critical impacts on the lukewarm interglacial climates.

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1038/s41467-025-63938-6

ISSN:

20411723

Additional Keywords:

Palaeoceanography, Palaeoclimate

NORA Subject Terms:

Marine Sciences
Meteorology and Climatology

Date made live:

09 Oct 2025 08:38 +0 (UTC)