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Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean

Author

Listed:
  • Elan J. Levy

    (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry
    The Geological Survey of Israel)

  • Hubert B. Vonhof

    (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry)

  • Miryam Bar-Matthews

    (The Geological Survey of Israel)

  • Alfredo Martínez-García

    (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry)

  • Avner Ayalon

    (The Geological Survey of Israel)

  • Alan Matthews

    (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Vered Silverman

    (Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • Shira Raveh-Rubin

    (Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • Tami Zilberman

    (The Geological Survey of Israel)

  • Gal Yasur

    (The Geological Survey of Israel)

  • Mareike Schmitt

    (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry)

  • Gerald H. Haug

    (Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry
    Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich)

Abstract

There is limited understanding of temperature and atmospheric circulation changes that accompany an Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowdown beyond the North Atlantic realm. A Peqi’in Cave (Israel) speleothem dated to the last interglacial period (LIG), 129–116 thousand years ago (ka), together with a large modern rainfall monitoring dataset, serve as the base for investigating past AMOC slowdown effects on the Eastern Mediterranean. Here, we reconstruct LIG temperatures and rainfall source using organic proxies (TEX86) and fluid inclusion water d-excess. The TEX86 data show a stepwise cooling from 19.8 ± 0.2° (ca. 128–126 ka) to 16.5 ± 0.6 °C (ca. 124–123 ka), while d-excess values decrease abruptly (ca. 126 ka). The d-excess shift suggests that rainfall was derived from more zonal Mediterranean air flow during the weakened AMOC interval. Decreasing rainfall d-excess trends over the last 25 years raise the question whether similar atmospheric circulation changes are also occurring today.

Suggested Citation

  • Elan J. Levy & Hubert B. Vonhof & Miryam Bar-Matthews & Alfredo Martínez-García & Avner Ayalon & Alan Matthews & Vered Silverman & Shira Raveh-Rubin & Tami Zilberman & Gal Yasur & Mareike Schmitt & Ge, 2023. "Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40880-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40880-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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