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Changes in El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions during the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1) chronozone revealed by New Zealand tree-rings

Palmer, Jonathan G. ; Turney, Chris S M ; Cook, Edward R. ; Fenwick, Pavla ; Thomas, Zoë ; Helle, Gerhard ; Jones, Richard ; Clement, Amy ; Hogg, Alan and Southon, John , et al. (2016) In Quaternary Science Reviews 153. p.139-155
Abstract

The warming trend at the end of the last glacial was disrupted by rapid cooling clearly identified in Greenland (Greenland Stadial 1 or GS-1) and Europe (Younger Dryas Stadial or YD). This reversal to glacial-like conditions is one of the best known examples of abrupt change but the exact timing and global spatial extent remain uncertain. Whilst the wider Atlantic region has a network of high-resolution proxy records spanning GS-1, the Pacific Ocean suffers from a scarcity of sub-decadally resolved sequences. Here we report the results from an investigation into a tree-ring chronology from northern New Zealand aimed at addressing the paucity of data. The conifer tree species kauri (Agathis australis) is known from contemporary studies... (More)

The warming trend at the end of the last glacial was disrupted by rapid cooling clearly identified in Greenland (Greenland Stadial 1 or GS-1) and Europe (Younger Dryas Stadial or YD). This reversal to glacial-like conditions is one of the best known examples of abrupt change but the exact timing and global spatial extent remain uncertain. Whilst the wider Atlantic region has a network of high-resolution proxy records spanning GS-1, the Pacific Ocean suffers from a scarcity of sub-decadally resolved sequences. Here we report the results from an investigation into a tree-ring chronology from northern New Zealand aimed at addressing the paucity of data. The conifer tree species kauri (Agathis australis) is known from contemporary studies to be sensitive to regional climate changes. An analysis of a ‘historic’ 452-year kauri chronology confirms a tropical-Pacific teleconnection via the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We then focus our study on a 1010-year sub-fossil kauri chronology that has been precisely dated by comprehensive radiocarbon dating and contains a striking ring-width downturn between ∼12,500 and 12,380 cal BP within GS-1. Wavelet analysis shows a marked increase in ENSO-like periodicities occurring after the downturn event. Comparison to low- and mid-latitude Pacific records suggests a coherency with ENSO and Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation change during this period. The driver(s) for this climate event remain unclear but may be related to solar changes that subsequently led to establishment and/or increased expression of ENSO across the mid-latitudes of the Pacific, seemingly independent of the Atlantic and polar regions.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Abrupt climate change, Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR), Bipolar seesaw, Dendrochronology, Kauri (Agathis australis), Last Termination, Younger Dryas (YD)
in
Quaternary Science Reviews
volume
153
pages
17 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84994607573
  • wos:000389116000010
ISSN
0277-3791
DOI
10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
65706977-1ccd-4e46-9359-e9a1dd505048
date added to LUP
2016-11-25 12:16:09
date last changed
2024-01-04 17:15:24
@article{65706977-1ccd-4e46-9359-e9a1dd505048,
  abstract     = {{<p>The warming trend at the end of the last glacial was disrupted by rapid cooling clearly identified in Greenland (Greenland Stadial 1 or GS-1) and Europe (Younger Dryas Stadial or YD). This reversal to glacial-like conditions is one of the best known examples of abrupt change but the exact timing and global spatial extent remain uncertain. Whilst the wider Atlantic region has a network of high-resolution proxy records spanning GS-1, the Pacific Ocean suffers from a scarcity of sub-decadally resolved sequences. Here we report the results from an investigation into a tree-ring chronology from northern New Zealand aimed at addressing the paucity of data. The conifer tree species kauri (Agathis australis) is known from contemporary studies to be sensitive to regional climate changes. An analysis of a ‘historic’ 452-year kauri chronology confirms a tropical-Pacific teleconnection via the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We then focus our study on a 1010-year sub-fossil kauri chronology that has been precisely dated by comprehensive radiocarbon dating and contains a striking ring-width downturn between ∼12,500 and 12,380 cal BP within GS-1. Wavelet analysis shows a marked increase in ENSO-like periodicities occurring after the downturn event. Comparison to low- and mid-latitude Pacific records suggests a coherency with ENSO and Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation change during this period. The driver(s) for this climate event remain unclear but may be related to solar changes that subsequently led to establishment and/or increased expression of ENSO across the mid-latitudes of the Pacific, seemingly independent of the Atlantic and polar regions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Palmer, Jonathan G. and Turney, Chris S M and Cook, Edward R. and Fenwick, Pavla and Thomas, Zoë and Helle, Gerhard and Jones, Richard and Clement, Amy and Hogg, Alan and Southon, John and Bronk Ramsey, Christopher and Staff, Richard and Muscheler, Raimund and Corrège, Thierry and Hua, Quan}},
  issn         = {{0277-3791}},
  keywords     = {{Abrupt climate change; Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR); Bipolar seesaw; Dendrochronology; Kauri (Agathis australis); Last Termination; Younger Dryas (YD)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  pages        = {{139--155}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Quaternary Science Reviews}},
  title        = {{Changes in El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions during the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1) chronozone revealed by New Zealand tree-rings}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.003}},
  volume       = {{153}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}