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Late Holocene climate change in the North Atlantic and equatorial Africa: Millennial‐scale ITCZ migration
Author(s) -
Russell James M.,
Johnson Thomas C.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl023295
Subject(s) - intertropical convergence zone , climatology , holocene , geology , paleoclimatology , climate change , proxy (statistics) , extratropical cyclone , latitude , climate model , tropical atlantic , convergence zone , equator , oceanography , geography , sea surface temperature , precipitation , meteorology , geodesy , machine learning , computer science
Climate proxy data and numerical models suggest that latitudinal displacements of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) occur during millennial‐scale cold events in the North Atlantic region, but the potential effects of these ITCZ movements on the climate of equatorial regions are unclear. Here we present a 5400‐year geochemical record of rainfall and drought from Lake Edward in equatorial Africa. We observe a non‐linear correlation in which drought in equatorial Africa occurs during both cold and warm extremes in the North Atlantic's 1500‐year quasi‐cycle. We propose that this relationship occurs due to northward/southward displacement of the ITCZ from its equatorial mean position during warm/cold events. Our results show that millennial‐scale high‐latitude climate events are linked to changes in equatorial terrestrial climate even during the late Holocene and suggest important constraints on the mechanisms linking tropical and extratropical climate variability.