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Glacier advances in the southern mid-latitudes during the last glacial cycle ( ca . 110–10 ka) were controlled by changes in temperature and precipitation linked to several important ocean-climate systems. As such, the timing of glacial advance and retreat can yield important insights into the mechanisms of Southern Hemisphere climate change. This is particularly important given that several recent studies have demonstrated significant glacial advances prior to the global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM) in Patagonia and New Zealand, the cause of which are uncertain. The recent increase in chronological studies in these regions offers the opportunity to compare regional trends in glacial activity. Here, we compile the first consistent 10 Be exposure-dating chronologies for Patagonia and New Zealand to highlight the broad pattern of mid-latitude glacial activity over the last glacial cycle. Our results show that advances or still stands culminated at 26–27 ka, 18–19 ka and 13–14 ka in both Patagonia and New Zealand and were broadly synchronous, but with an offset between regions of up to 900 years that cannot be explained by age calculation or physically plausible erosion differences. Furthermore, there is evidence in both regions for glacial advances culminating from at least 45 ka, during the latter half of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Glacial activity prior to the gLGM differed from the large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, likely due to favourable Southern Hemisphere conditions during late MIS 3: summer insolation reached a minimum, seasonality was reduced, winter duration was increasing, and sea ice had expanded significantly, inducing stratification of the ocean and triggering northward migration of oceanic fronts and the Southern Westerly Winds. Glacial advances in Patagonia and New Zealand during the gLGM were probably primed by underlying orbital parameters. However, the precise timing is likely to have been intrinsically linked to migration of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system, which may account for the small offset between Patagonia and New Zealand due to differences in oceanic frontal migration. During deglaciation, advances or still stands occurred in both regions during the southern Antarctic Cold Reversal ( ca . 14.5–12.9 ka) rather than the northern Younger Dryas ( ca . 12.9–11.7 ka). Our findings suggest that major rearrangements of the Southern Hemisphere climate system occurred at various times during the last glacial cycle, with associated impacts on the position and intensity of the Southern Westerly Winds and oceanic fronts, as well as wind-driven upwelling and degassing of the deep Southern Ocean. Thus, reconstructing the timing of glacial advance/retreat using our compilation is a powerful way to understand the mechanisms of past interhemispheric climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millennial-scale cold reversals in the high latitudes of both hemispheres interrupted the last transition from full glacial to interglacial climate conditions. The presence of the Younger Dryas stadial (∼12.9 to ∼11.7 kyr ago) is established throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, but the global timing, nature and extent of the event are not well established. Evidence in mid to low latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, in particular, has remained perplexing. The debate has in part focused on the behaviour of mountain glaciers in New Zealand, where previous research has found equivocal evidence for the precise timing of increased or reduced ice extent. The interhemispheric behaviour of the climate system during the Younger Dryas thus remains an open question, fundamentally limiting our ability to formulate realistic models of global climate dynamics for this time period. Here we show that New Zealand’s glaciers retreated after ∼13 kyr bp, at the onset of the Younger Dryas, and in general over the subsequent ∼1.5-kyr period. Our evidence is based on detailed landform mapping, a high-precision 10Be chronology and reconstruction of former ice extents and snow lines from well-preserved cirque moraines. Our late-glacial glacier chronology matches climatic trends in Antarctica, Southern Ocean behaviour and variations in atmospheric CO2. The evidence points to a distinct warming of the southern mid-latitude atmosphere during the Younger Dryas and a close coupling between New Zealand’s cryosphere and southern high-latitude climate. These findings support the hypothesis that extensive winter sea ice and curtailed meridional ocean overturning in the North Atlantic led to a strong interhemispheric thermal gradient during late-glacial times, in turn leading to increased upwelling and CO2 release from the Southern Ocean, thereby triggering Southern Hemisphere warming during the northern Younger Dryas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study forms part of a wider investigation of late Quaternary environments in the Southern Hemisphere. We here review the terrestrial and near-shore proxy data from Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), New Zealand and surrounding oceans during 35–10ka, an interval spanning the lead-up to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the LGM proper (21±2ka), and the ensuing deglaciation. Sites selected for detailed discussion have a continuous or near continuous sedimentary record for this time interval, a stratigraphically consistent chronology, and one or more sources of proxy climatic data. Tropical Australia, Indonesia and PNG had LGM mean annual temperatures 3–7°C below present values and summer precipitation reduced by at least 30%, consistent with a weaker summer monsoon and a northward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The summer monsoon was re-established in northwest Australia by 14ka. Precipitation in northeast Australia was reduced to less than 50% of present values until warmer and wetter conditions resumed at 17–16ka, followed by a second warmer, wetter phase at 15–14ka. LGM temperatures were up to 8°C lower than today in mainland southeast Australia and up to 4°C cooler in Tasmania. Winter rainfall was much reduced throughout much of southern Australia although periodic extreme flood events are evident in the fluvial record. Glacial advances in southeast Australia are dated to 32±2.5, 19.1±1.6 and 16.8±1.4ka, with periglacial activity concentrated towards 23–16ka. Deglaciation was rapid in the Snowy Mountains, which were ice-free by 15.8ka. Minimum effective precipitation in southern Australia was from 14 to 12ka. In New Zealand the glacial advances date to ∼28, 21.5 and 19ka, with the onset of major cooling at ∼28ka, or well before the LGM. There is no convincing evidence for a Younger Dryas cooling event in or around New Zealand, but there are signs of the Antarctic Cold Reversal in and around New Zealand and off southern Australia. There remain unresolved discrepancies between the climates inferred from pollen and those inferred from the beetle and chironomid fauna at a number of New Zealand sites. One explanation may be that pollen provides a generalised regional climatic signal in contrast to the finer local resolution offered by beetles and chironomids. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were up to 5°C cooler during the LGM with rapid warming after 20ka to attain present values by 15ka. The increase in summer monsoonal precipitation at or before 15ka reflects higher insolation, warmer SSTs and steeper thermal gradients between land and sea. The postglacial increase in winter rainfall in southern Australia is probably related to the southward displacement of the westerlies as SSTs around Antarctica became warmer and the winter pack ice and Antarctic Convergence Zone retreated to the south. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]