Closure of the Bering Strait caused Mid-Pleistocene Transition cooling

The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is characterised by cooling and lengthening glacial cycles from 600–1200 ka, thought to be driven by reductions in glacial CO 2 in particular from ~900 ka onwards. Reduced high latitude upwelling, a process that retains CO 2 within the deep ocean over glacials, c...

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Published inNature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 5386 - 11
Main Authors Kender, Sev, Ravelo, Ana Christina, Worne, Savannah, Swann, George E. A., Leng, Melanie J., Asahi, Hirofumi, Becker, Julia, Detlef, Henrieka, Aiello, Ivano W., Andreasen, Dyke, Hall, Ian R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 19.12.2018
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
140/58
704/106/2738
704/106/413
704/2151/209
Carbon dioxide
Cooling
Drawdown
Global cooling
Humanities and Social Sciences
Intermediate water
multidisciplinary
Pleistocene
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sea ice
Upwelling
Bering Strait
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Summary:The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is characterised by cooling and lengthening glacial cycles from 600–1200 ka, thought to be driven by reductions in glacial CO 2 in particular from ~900 ka onwards. Reduced high latitude upwelling, a process that retains CO 2 within the deep ocean over glacials, could have aided drawdown but has so far not been constrained in either hemisphere over the MPT. Here, we find that reduced nutrient upwelling in the Bering Sea, and North Pacific Intermediate Water expansion, coincided with the MPT and became more persistent at ~900 ka. We propose reduced upwelling was controlled by expanding sea ice and North Pacific Intermediate Water formation, which may have been enhanced by closure of the Bering Strait. The regional extent of North Pacific Intermediate Water across the subarctic northwest Pacific would have contributed to lower atmospheric CO 2 and global cooling during the MPT. The causes of Mid-Pleistocene Transition global cooling 1 million years ago are still unknown. Here, the authors find the subarctic North Pacific became stratified during these glaciations due to closure of the Bering Strait, which would have removed CO 2 from the atmosphere and caused global cooling.
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ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-07828-0