Millennial-Scale Subsurface Temperature Change in the Niger Delta Linked to Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Variability During the Last Deglacial

Abstract:

Understanding how Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) variability influenced the abrupt climatic changes that characterized the last deglacial has become a fundamental topic in Paleoceanography. Both modern observations and modeling simulations suggest that subsurface temperatures between 300-600 m across the Tropical North Atlantic warm when AMOC weakens, providing a possible fingerprint for reconstructing past AMOC variability (Schmidt et al., 2012). Furthermore, this AMOC-induced subsurface warming has the potential to impact the West African Monsoon, possibly providing an important high-latitude / tropical climate teleconnection (Chang et al., 2008). Here, we present a new high-resolution Mg/Ca record of subsurface (~300 m water depth) temperature variability across the last deglacial from sediment core Fan 17 (4.81^oN, 4.41^oE, 1178 m depth) recovered from the Niger Delta based on the deep-dwelling planktonic foraminifera Globorotalia crassaformis. Our G. crassaformis Mg/Ca record suggests an increase in subsurface temperatures up to 4^oC from 17.2 to 14.8 kyr, consistent with previously published proxy data suggesting AMOC was in a reduced state during Heinrich Event 1 and the subsequent Mystery Interval (McManus et al., 2004). The G. crassaformis Mg/Ca record then shows a cooling associated with the onset of the Bølling Allerød interstadial, followed by a second warming at the start of the Younger Dryas. These millennial-scale warming events are nearly synchronous with a similar record of subsurface temperature change from the Bonaire Basin in the Southern Caribbean (Schmidt et al., 2012) and may provide important evidence for the rapid adjustment of tropical Atlantic subsurface temperatures in response to a weakened AMOC state.