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Title: A mechanistic understanding of oxygen isotopic changes in the Western United States at the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract

At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), records suggest drier conditions in the northwest United States and wetter conditions in the southwest United States relative to present-day as well as widespread changes in the isotopic composition of water. However, the mechanisms responsible for these changes remain ambiguous. Here, we explore differences in western United States hydroclimate between the LGM and preindustrial with a water isotope tracer enabled Earth System Model. We then use proxy forward models to compare simulated and recorded δ18O in speleothems. We find that the pattern of hydroclimate response in the western United States at the LGM relates to a combination of 1) increased frequency and southward shifted wintertime extratropical cyclones in the North Pacific, 2) greater rainout of moisture as it moves over the continent, and 3) reduced evaporation in the cooler LGM climate. The simulated lower δ18O of precipitation at the LGM relates predominantly to an increase in cool season moisture removal efficiency, with a secondary contribution from relatively more cool season precipitation. Both surface temperatures and North American ice sheets contribute to these hydroclimate changes at the LGM. Comparisons between δ18O from proxy forward models and speleothem records in the western United States show generalmore » agreement at the LGM, with increasing depletion moving towards the continental interior. Finally, this study highlights the similarities and differences between hydrologic and δ18O changes at the LGM and emphasizes the utility of model-proxy comparison for interpretation.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States)
  2. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  3. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  7. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1897719
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; 1852977
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Quaternary Science Reviews
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 274; Journal ID: ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; quaternary; climate dynamics; Paleoclimate modeling; Paleoclimatology; North America; speleothems; stable isotopes

Citation Formats

Tabor, Clay, Lofverstrom, Marcus, Oster, Jessica, Wortham, Barbara, de Wet, Cameron, Montañez, Isabel, Rhoades, Alan, Zarzycki, Colin, He, Chengfei, and Liu, Zhengyu. A mechanistic understanding of oxygen isotopic changes in the Western United States at the Last Glacial Maximum. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107255.
Tabor, Clay, Lofverstrom, Marcus, Oster, Jessica, Wortham, Barbara, de Wet, Cameron, Montañez, Isabel, Rhoades, Alan, Zarzycki, Colin, He, Chengfei, & Liu, Zhengyu. A mechanistic understanding of oxygen isotopic changes in the Western United States at the Last Glacial Maximum. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107255
Tabor, Clay, Lofverstrom, Marcus, Oster, Jessica, Wortham, Barbara, de Wet, Cameron, Montañez, Isabel, Rhoades, Alan, Zarzycki, Colin, He, Chengfei, and Liu, Zhengyu. Sat . "A mechanistic understanding of oxygen isotopic changes in the Western United States at the Last Glacial Maximum". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107255. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1897719.
@article{osti_1897719,
title = {A mechanistic understanding of oxygen isotopic changes in the Western United States at the Last Glacial Maximum},
author = {Tabor, Clay and Lofverstrom, Marcus and Oster, Jessica and Wortham, Barbara and de Wet, Cameron and Montañez, Isabel and Rhoades, Alan and Zarzycki, Colin and He, Chengfei and Liu, Zhengyu},
abstractNote = {At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), records suggest drier conditions in the northwest United States and wetter conditions in the southwest United States relative to present-day as well as widespread changes in the isotopic composition of water. However, the mechanisms responsible for these changes remain ambiguous. Here, we explore differences in western United States hydroclimate between the LGM and preindustrial with a water isotope tracer enabled Earth System Model. We then use proxy forward models to compare simulated and recorded δ18O in speleothems. We find that the pattern of hydroclimate response in the western United States at the LGM relates to a combination of 1) increased frequency and southward shifted wintertime extratropical cyclones in the North Pacific, 2) greater rainout of moisture as it moves over the continent, and 3) reduced evaporation in the cooler LGM climate. The simulated lower δ18O of precipitation at the LGM relates predominantly to an increase in cool season moisture removal efficiency, with a secondary contribution from relatively more cool season precipitation. Both surface temperatures and North American ice sheets contribute to these hydroclimate changes at the LGM. Comparisons between δ18O from proxy forward models and speleothem records in the western United States show general agreement at the LGM, with increasing depletion moving towards the continental interior. Finally, this study highlights the similarities and differences between hydrologic and δ18O changes at the LGM and emphasizes the utility of model-proxy comparison for interpretation.},
doi = {10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107255},
journal = {Quaternary Science Reviews},
number = ,
volume = 274,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Nov 06 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Sat Nov 06 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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