Asynchronous Terrestrial and Marine Signals of Climate Change During Heinrich Events

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 306; no. 5705; pp. 2236 - 2239
• Main Authors: Jennerjahn, Tim C, Ittekkot, Venugopalan, Arz, Helge W, Behling, Hermann, Pätzold, Jůrgen, Wefer, Gerold
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 24.12.2004; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Atlantic Ocean; Brazil; Carbon Isotopes; Climate; Climate change; Climate proxies; Climatic changes; Climatic zones; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Exact sciences and technology; Feedback (Response); Ferns; Geologic Sediments; Heinrich events; Marine and continental quaternary; Marine ecosystems; Nitrogen Isotopes; Paleoclimatology; Plants; Pollen; Prerequisites; Rain; Reaction Time; Seawater; Sedimentation & deposition; Spores; Surficial geology; Time; Trees; Tropical Climate; Tropical climates; Vegetation; Brazil; West Atlantic; Atlantic Ocean; South America; ocean currents; O-18/O-16; pollen; Atlantic Ocean; tropical zone; chronology; upper Quaternary; paleoclimate; drill cores; amplitude; climate modification; stratigraphic correlation; dating; Heinrich events; Cenozoic; continental margin; organic carbon; marine sediments; stable isotopes; Quaternary; C-13/C-12; N-15/N-14; sedimentation; C-14; ecosystems; Phanerozoic
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1102490

Tropical regions have been reported to play a key role in climate dynamics. To date, however, there are uncertainties in the timing and the amplitude of the response of tropical ecosystems to millennial-scale climate change. We present evidence of an asynchrony between terrestrial and marine signals of climate change during Heinrich events preserved in marine sediment cores from the Brazilian continental margin. The inferred time lag of about 1000 to 2000 years is much larger than the ecological response to recent climate change and appears to be related to the nature of hydrological changes.