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Dust-climate couplings over the past 800,000 years from the EPICA Dome C ice core

Nature volume 452, pages 616–619 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Dust can affect the radiative balance of the atmosphere by absorbing or reflecting incoming solar radiation1; it can also be a source of micronutrients, such as iron, to the ocean2. It has been suggested that production, transport and deposition of dust is influenced by climatic changes on glacial-interglacial timescales3,4,5,6. Here we present a high-resolution record of aeolian dust from the EPICA Dome C ice core in East Antarctica, which provides an undisturbed climate sequence over the past eight climatic cycles7,8. We find that there is a significant correlation between dust flux and temperature records during glacial periods that is absent during interglacial periods. Our data suggest that dust flux is increasingly correlated with Antarctic temperature as the climate becomes colder. We interpret this as progressive coupling of the climates of Antarctic and lower latitudes. Limited changes in glacial-interglacial atmospheric transport time4,9,10 suggest that the sources and lifetime of dust are the main factors controlling the high glacial dust input. We propose that the observed ∼25-fold increase in glacial dust flux over all eight glacial periods can be attributed to a strengthening of South American dust sources, together with a longer lifetime for atmospheric dust particles in the upper troposphere resulting from a reduced hydrological cycle during the ice ages.

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Figure 1: EDC dust data in comparison with other climatic indicators.
Figure 2: EDC correlation between dust and temperature.
Figure 3: EDC dust–temperature relationship.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Fischer, E. Wolff, T. Blunier, R. Gersonde, B. Stauffer and M. Renold for their comments and suggestions. This work is a contribution to the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), a joint European Science Foundation/European Commission scientific programme, funded by the European Commission and by national contributions from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is EPICA publication no. 193.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland ,

    F. Lambert, M. Bigler, P. R. Kaufmann & T. F. Stocker

  2. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

    F. Lambert, P. R. Kaufmann & T. F. Stocker

  3. Environmental Sciences Department, University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy,

    B. Delmonte & V. Maggi

  4. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environment (LGGE), CNRS-University J. Fourier, BP96 38402 Saint-Martin-d’Hères cedex, France ,

    J. R. Petit

  5. Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark ,

    M. Bigler & J. P. Steffensen

  6. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK ,

    M. A. Hutterli

  7. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany ,

    U. Ruth

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  1. F. Lambert
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Correspondence to J. R. Petit.

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The file contains Supplementary Figure S1 with Legend and Supplementary Table S1. (PDF 271 kb)

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Lambert, F., Delmonte, B., Petit, J. et al. Dust-climate couplings over the past 800,000 years from the EPICA Dome C ice core. Nature 452, 616–619 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06763

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