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Originally published in Science Express on 14 June 2007
Science 27 July 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5837, pp. 502 - 507
DOI: 10.1126/science.1139994
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Reports

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,3,4 Thomas F. Stocker4

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.

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, UK.
4 Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

{dagger} Deceased.

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

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