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Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1003
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1003
24 May 2024
 | 24 May 2024

Shifts in Greenland interannual climate variability lead Dansgaard-Oeschger abrupt warming by hundreds of years

Chloe A. Brashear, Tyler R. Jones, Valerie Morris, Bruce H. Vaughn, William H. G. Roberts, William B. Skorski, Abigail G. Hughes, Richard Nunn, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Kurt M. Cuffey, Bo M. Vinther, Todd Sowers, Christo Buizert, Vasileios Gkinis, Christian Holme, Mari F. Jensen, Sofia E. Kjellman, Petra M. Langebroek, Florian Mekhaldi, Kevin S. Rozmiarek, Jonathan W. Rheinlænder, Margit Simon, Giulia Sinnl, Silje Smith-Johnsen, and James W. C. White

Abstract. During the Last Glacial Period (LGP), Greenland experienced approximately thirty abrupt warming phases, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) Events, followed by cooling back to baseline glacial conditions. Studies of mean climate change across warming transitions reveal indistinguishable phase-offsets between shifts in temperature, dust, sea salt, accumulation and moisture source, thus preventing a comprehensive understanding of the “anatomy” of D-O cycles (Capron et al,. 2021). One aspect of abrupt change that has not been systematically assessed is how high-frequency, interannual-scale climatic variability surrounding mean temperature changes across D-O transitions. Here, we utilize the EGRIP ice core high-resolution water isotope record, a proxy for temperature and atmospheric circulation, to quantify the amplitude of 7–15 year isotopic variability for D-O events 2–13, the Younger Dryas and the Bølling-Allerød. On average, cold stadial periods consistently exhibit greater variability than warm interstadial periods. Most notably, we often find that reductions in the amplitude of the 7–15 year band led abrupt D-O warmings by hundreds of years. Such a large phase offset between two climate parameters in a Greenland ice core has never been documented for D-O cycles. However, similar centennial lead times have been found in proxies of Norwegian Sea ice cover relative to abrupt Greenland warming (Sadatzki et al., 2020). Using HadCM3, a fully coupled general circulation model, we assess the effects of sea ice on 7–15 year temperature variability at EGRIP. For a range of stadial and interstadial conditions, we find a strong relationship in line with our observations between colder simulated mean temperature and enhanced temperature variability at the EGRIP location. We also find a robust correlation between year-to-year North Atlantic sea-ice fluctuations and the strength of interannual-scale temperature variability at EGRIP. Thus, both paleoclimate proxy evidence and model simulations suggest that sea ice plays a substantial role in high-frequency climate variability prior to D-O warming. This provides a clue about the anatomy of D-O Events and should be the target of future sea-ice model studies.

Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Climate of the Past.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

24 Feb 2025
Shifts in Greenland interannual climate variability lead Dansgaard–Oeschger abrupt warming by hundreds of years
Chloe A. Brashear, Tyler R. Jones, Valerie Morris, Bruce H. Vaughn, William H. G. Roberts, William B. Skorski, Abigail G. Hughes, Richard Nunn, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Kurt M. Cuffey, Bo M. Vinther, Todd Sowers, Christo Buizert, Vasileios Gkinis, Christian Holme, Mari F. Jensen, Sofia E. Kjellman, Petra M. Langebroek, Florian Mekhaldi, Kevin S. Rozmiarek, Jonathan W. Rheinlænder, Margit H. Simon, Giulia Sinnl, Silje Smith-Johnsen, and James W. C. White
Clim. Past, 21, 529–546, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-529-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-529-2025, 2025
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

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We use a series of spectral techniques to quantify the strength of high-frequency climate...
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