Abrupt climate fluctuations in Tibet as imprints of multiple meltwater events during the early to mid-Holocene

Hongxi Pang; Wangbin Zhang; Shuangye Wu; Theo M Jenk; Margit Schwikowski; Shugui Hou

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2023.12.007

Abrupt climate fluctuations in Tibet as imprints of multiple meltwater events during the early to mid-Holocene

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2024 Feb 15;69(3):375-381. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.12.007. Epub 2023 Dec 16.

Authors

Hongxi Pang¹, Wangbin Zhang², Shuangye Wu³, Theo M Jenk⁴, Margit Schwikowski⁴, Shugui Hou⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Coast and Island Development of Ministry of Education, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China; Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: hxpang@nju.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Coast and Island Development of Ministry of Education, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
³ Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, University of Dayton, Dayton OH 45469, USA.
⁴ Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI 5232, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Coast and Island Development of Ministry of Education, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China; School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: shuguihou@sjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38103951
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.12.007

Abstract

Understanding the impact of meltwater discharge during the final stage of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) has important implications for predicting sea level rise and climate change. Here we present a high-resolution ice-core isotopic record from the central Tibetan Plateau (TP), where the climate is sensitive to the meltwater forcing, and explore possible signals of the climate response to potential LIS meltwater discharges in the early to mid-Holocene. The record shows four abrupt large fluctuations during the 7-9 ka BP (kiloannum before present), reflecting large shifts of the mid-latitude westerlies and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) over this period, and they corresponded to possible LIS freshwater events documented in other paleoclimate records. Our study suggests that multiple rapid meltwater discharge events might have occurred during the final stage of LIS. The finding implies the possibility of rapid sea level rise and unstable climate in the transition zone between the mid-latitude westerlies and the ISM due to fast polar ice retreat under the anthropogenic global warming.

Keywords: Abrupt climate change; Ice core; Meltwater events; Tibetan Plateau; Water isotopes.