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Title: High-latitude warming initiated the onset of the last deglaciation in the tropics

Journal Article · · Science Advances
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]
  1. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States). Dept. of Earth Sciences; DOE/OSTI
  2. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States). Dept. of Earth Sciences
  3. Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States). Dept. of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
  4. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States). Dept. of Earth Sciences; Bates College, Lewiston, ME (United States). Geology Dept.
  5. Makerere Univ., Kampala (Uganda). Mountain Resource Centre
  6. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are thought to have synchronized global temperatures during Pleistocene glacial–interglacial cycles, yet their impact relative to changes in high-latitude insolation and ice-sheet extent remains poorly constrained. Here, we use tropical glacial fluctuations to assess the timing of low-latitude temperature changes relative to global climate forcings. We report 10Be ages of moraines in tropical East Africa and South America and show that glaciers reached their maxima at ~29 to 20 ka, during the global Last Glacial Maximum. Tropical glacial recession was underway by 20 ka, before the rapid CO2 rise at ~18.2 ka. This “early” tropical warming was influenced by rising high-latitude insolation and coincident ice-sheet recession in both polar regions, which lowered the meridional thermal gradient and reduced tropical heat export to the high latitudes.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Comer Family Foundation; National Geographic Society; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1626013
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-759653
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 5; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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