Early warming over the Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation

Zheng, Peisong ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0522-476X; Bauska, Thomas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1901-0367; Osman, Matthew. 2025 Early warming over the Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation. Geophysical Research Letters, 52 (17), e2025GL117155. 10, pp. 10.1029/2025GL117155

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text (Open Access) © 2025. The Author(s). Geophysical Research Letters - 2025 - Zheng - Early Warming Over the Southern Ocean During the Last Deglaciation.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

The last deglaciation, ca. 17,000–11,000 years before present (yr BP), marks the most recent period of large-scale climate reorganization on Earth. However, the timing and spatial patterns of the initial warming preceding these changes remain uncertain. Here, we develop a new method using Gaussian Mixture Model clustering to objectively segregate a reanalysis and climate model simulations, respectively, into four distinct patterns of temperature change throughout the last deglaciation. Our findings indicate that the earliest warming signs appeared around 21,000 years BP in the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes. This early warming was accompanied by a cooling in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes, resulting in a hemispherically asymmetric temperature pattern. Further analysis using single-forcing climate simulations suggests that the early warming and sea ice retreat were likely driven by a weakening in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, linked to orbital forcing.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1029/2025GL117155
ISSN:	00948276
Date made live:	29 Aug 2025 08:03 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539465

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...