Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-5-2020
Publication Title
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Research
Volume
11
First page number:
1
Last page number:
8
Abstract
Many Holocene hydroclimate records show rainfall changes that vary with local orbital insolation. However, some tropical regions display rainfall evolution that differs from gradual precessional pacing, suggesting that direct rainfall forcing effects were predominantly driven by sea-surface temperature thresholds or inter-ocean temperature gradients. Here we present a 12,000 yr continuous U/Th-dated precipitation record from a Guatemalan speleothem showing that Central American rainfall increased within a 2000 yr period from a persistently dry state to an active convective regime at 9000 yr BP and has remained strong thereafter. Our data suggest that the Holocene evolution of Central American rainfall was driven by exceeding a temperature threshold in the nearby tropical oceans. The sensitivity of this region to slow changes in radiative forcing is thus strongly mediated by internal dynamics acting on much faster time scales.
Disciplines
Earth Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics
File Format
File Size
972 KB
Language
English
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Repository Citation
Winter, A.,
Zanchettin, D.,
Lachniet, M.,
Vieten, R.,
Pausata, F. S.,
Ljungqvist, F. C.,
Cheng, H.,
Edwards, R. L.,
Miller, T.,
Rubinetti, S.,
Rubino, A.,
Taricco, C.
(2020).
Initiation of a Stable Convective Hydroclimatic Regime in Central America Circa 9000 Years BP.
Nature Communications, 11
1-8.
Nature Research.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14490-y