2.8 Million Years of Arctic Climate Change from Lake El’gygytgyn, NE Russia

: Melles M., Brigham-Grette J., Minyuk P.S., Nowaczyk N.R., Wennrich V., DeConto R.M.,
Anderson P.M., Andreev A.A., Coletti C., Cook T.L., Haltia-Hovi E., Kukkonen M., Lozhkin A.V.,
Rosén, P., Tarasov P., Vogel H., Wagner B.

: 2012

: 337

: 6092

: 315

: 320

DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1222135

The reliability of Arctic climate predictions is currently hampered by
insufficient knowledge of natural climate variability in the past. A
sediment core from Lake El'gygytgyn in northeastern (NE) Russia provides
a continuous, high-resolution record from the Arctic, spanning the past
2.8 million years. This core reveals numerous "super interglacials"
during the Quaternary; for marine benthic isotope stages (MIS) 11c and
31, maximum summer temperatures and annual precipitation values are ~4°
to 5°C and ~300 millimeters higher than those of MIS 1 and 5e. Climate
simulations show that these extreme warm conditions are difficult to
explain with greenhouse gas and astronomical forcing alone, implying the
importance of amplifying feedbacks and far field influences. The timing
of Arctic warming relative to West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreats implies
strong interhemispheric climate connectivity.