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Published Online June 14, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1139994

Reports

Submitted on January 16, 2007
Accepted on June 4, 2007

Four Climate Cycles of Recurring Deep and Surface Water Destabilizations on the Iberian Margin

Belen Martrat 1, Joan O. Grimalt 1*, Nicholas J. Shackleton 2{dagger}, Lucia de Abreu 2, Manuel A. Hutterli 3, Thomas F. Stocker 4

1 Department of Environmental Chemistry, Chemical and Environmental Research Institute of Barcelona, Spanish National Research Council (IIQAB-CSIC), 08034-Barcelona, Spain.
2 Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK.
3 British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom; Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
4 Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Joan O. Grimalt , E-mail: jgoqam{at}cid.csic.es

{dagger}Deceased.

Centennial climate variability over the last ice age exhibits clear bipolar behavior. High-resolution analyses of marine sediment cores from the Iberian Margin trace a number of associated changes simultaneously. Proxies of sea surface temperature and water mass distribution, as well as relative biomarker content, demonstrate that this typical north-south coupling was pervasive for the cold phases of climate during the past 420,000 years. Cold episodes after relatively warm and largely ice-free periods occurred when the predominance of deep water formation changed from northern to southern sources. These results reinforce the connection between rapid climate changes at Mediterranean latitudes and century-to-millennial variability in northern and southern polar regions.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)