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A synthesis of new and existing data allows Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent Northern Hemisphere cold event, to be linked to the timing of peak sea-level rise during glacial termination T-II, whereas rapid sea-level rise in T-I is shown to clearly post-date Heinrich Stadial 1, so fundamentally different mechanisms seem to be at work during glacial terminations. Anatomy of a glacial termination A central goal of palaeoclimate research is that of deciphering the mechanisms responsible for major state shifts in the Earth system, such as between glacial and interglacial conditions. This has proven difficult enough even for the last glacial termination (T-I), much less termination II (T-II), which ended glacial conditions about 130,000 years ago. Gianluca Marino et al. use new and existing data to demonstrate a link, within uncertainties, between Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11) -- a prominent Northern Hemisphere cold event -- and the timing of peak sea level rise during T-II. A strong Southern Hemisphere warming also occurred during HS11, consistent with the idea of a bipolar seesaw that would probably have promoted Antarctic ice sheet melting. In contrast, rapid sea level rise in T-1 clearly postdated Heinrich Stadial 1. Possibly in response to differing CO.sub.2 and insolation conditions during T-I and T-II, fundamentally different mechanisms seem to be at work in triggering glacial terminations. Our current understanding of ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere interactions at ice-age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent (last) glacial-interglacial transition.sup.1,2,3, Termination I (T-I). But the extent to which T-I is representative of previous terminations remains unclear. Testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control. However, such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination (T-II), which culminated in a sea-level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present.sup.4. Here we show that Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent North Atlantic cold episode.sup.5,6, occurred between 135 [plus or minus] 1 and 130 [plus or minus] 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea-level rise during T-II. Our conclusions are based on new and existing.sup.6,7,8,9 data for T-II and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single, radiometrically constrained chronology. The HS11 cold episode.sup.5,6 punctuated T-II and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse, which predominantly entered the North Atlantic Ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial-interglacial sea-level rise.sup.8,9. We conclude that, possibly in response to stronger insolation and CO.sub.2 forcing earlier in T-II, the relationship between climate and ice-volume changes differed fundamentally from that of T-I. In T-I, the major sea-level rise clearly post-dates.sup.3,10,11 Heinrich Stadial 1. We also find that HS11 coincided with sustained Antarctic warming, probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response.sup.12, and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted Antarctic ice-sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea-level peak., Author(s): G. Marino [sup.1] , E. J. Rohling [sup.1] [sup.2] , L. Rodríguez-Sanz [sup.1] , K. M. Grant [sup.1] , D. Heslop [sup.1] , A. P. Roberts [sup.1] , J. [...]

Ice volume (and hence sea level) and deep-sea temperature are key measures of global climate change. Sea level has been documented using several independent methods over the past 0.5 million years (Myr). Older periods, however, lack such independent validation; all existing records are related to deep-sea oxygen isotope ([δ.sup.18]O) data that are influenced by processes unrelated to sea level. For deep-sea temperature, only one continuous high-resolution (Mg/Ca-based) record exists, with related sea-level estimates, spanning the past 1.5 Myr. Here we present a novel sea-level reconstruction, with associated estimates of deep-sea temperature, which independently validates the previous 0-1.5 Myr reconstruction and extends it back to 5.3 Myr ago. We find that deep-sea temperature and sea level generally decreased through time, but distinctly out of synchrony, which is remarkable given the importance of ice-albedo feedbacks on the radiative forcing of climate. In particular, we observe a large temporal offset during the onset of Plio-Pleistocene ice ages, between a marked cooling step at 2.73 Myr ago and the first major glaciation at 2.15 Myr ago. Last, we tentatively infer that ice sheets may have grown largest during glacials with more modest reductions in deep-sea temperature., To understand better the potential response of ice volume (sea level) to global warming, there is a need for continuous, highly resolved and well-quantified records of sea-level variations associated with [...]

The isotopic composition of oxygen in sea water correlates with changes in global mean sea level. Microfossils carrying oxygen-isotope signals have been used to extend sea-level records as far back [...]