EGU22-10080
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10080
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

South American climate reconstruction during the mid-Holocene from an updated paleodata compilation

Ilana Wainer1, Iuri Gorenstein1, Luciana F. Prado1,2, Paula R. Bianchini2, Michael L Griffiths3, Francesco SR Pausata4, and Elder Yokoyama2
Ilana Wainer et al.
  • 1Institute of Oceanography, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 2Institute of Geosciences, University of Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil
  • 3Department of Environmental Science, William Paterson University, Wayne, USA
  • 4Centre ESCER (Etude et la Simulation du Climat `a l’Echelle Regionale) and GEOTOP (Research Center on the Dynamics of the Earth System), Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
Investigating the extent and climate implications of the Northern Hemisphere Holocene warm peak that occurred during the mid-Holocene (MH, about 6000 years ago) is of vital interest to better understand and interpret the uncertainties associated with current global warming. Paleoclimate archives are a source of unique indirect measurements, used to characterize past climates. However, several paleo-archives in South America (SA) published before the 2000s have not yet had their derived radiometric ages calibrated, representing a large source of uncertainty in past climate reconstructions. Here we reconstruct eastern SA climate during the MH using 172 paleodata with fully calibrated age models. Our results show that for the MH the Amazon and Southern SA were drier and along the western South Atlantic conditions were saltier compared to  present day climate. Southern SA presents warmer than present MH and the region separating Northeast Brazil and Southern SA together with the easternmost part of Northeast Brazil shows divergent behavior, presenting dispersed higher than present rainfall rates.  

How to cite: Wainer, I., Gorenstein, I., F. Prado, L., R. Bianchini, P., L Griffiths, M., SR Pausata, F., and Yokoyama, E.: South American climate reconstruction during the mid-Holocene from an updated paleodata compilation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10080, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10080, 2022.