Climate Instability during the Last Interglacial

末次间冰期的特点是，由于北方半球夏季日照增加以及海洋和陆地的反馈，导致了至少过去25万年来最高的峰值温度和海平面。虽然不是一个严格的模拟未来的全球预测，末次间冰期提供了一个宝贵的观测背景下的气候不稳定期间的“过度”温暖。虽然一些海洋和陆地记录表明在末次间冰期存在气候不稳定，但年代的不确定性使评估所报告事件的地方或区域意义变得复杂。该项目旨在制作一个“地层罗塞塔石碑”，将深水和地表水水文学的重建与葡萄牙南部边缘同一深海序列中的区域植被变化联系起来;这是一个将海洋和陆地记录联系起来并追踪千年尺度变化的关键领域。记录分辨率的提高将有助于探测百年一次的事件，并确定这些事件是否在陆地和海洋代用指标中得到体现。最突出的气候突变事件通常与冰川气候有关，对这些事件的典型解释是，它们是由大量淡水排入北大西洋引发的。评估和扩展这一范例，以包括在过度温暖和冰量减少期间的气候不稳定性，特别是在未来气候变化的背景下，具有特别重要的意义。

The Last Interglacial was characterized by the highest peak temperatures and sea level of at least the past 250,000 years, caused by increased Northern Hemisphere summer insolation and ocean- and land-feedbacks. Though not a strict analogue for future global projections, the Last Interglacial provides an invaluable observational context for climate instability during periods of 'excess' warmth. While a number of marine and terrestrial records suggest the presence of climate instability during the Last Interglacial, chronological uncertainties complicate an assessment of the local or regional significance of reported events. This projects aims to produce a 'stratigraphical Rosetta Stone' linking reconstructions of deep- and surface-water hydrography with regional vegetation change in the same deep-sea sequence from the south Portuguese margin; a key area for linking marine and terrestrial records and tracing millennial-scale variability. The increased resolution of the records will allow the detection of centennial-scale events and establish whether these are represented in both terrestrial and marine proxies. The most prominent abrupt climate events have usually been associated with glacial climates, and the canonical explanation of these events is that they are triggered by massive freshwater discharges into the North Atlantic. Evaluating and extending this paradigm to include climate instability during periods of excess warmth and reduced ice-volume is of particular significance, especially in the context of future climate change.