Reconstructing South Atlantic climate during MIS 11 and Termination V

The scientifically and politically agreed-upon benchmark for limiting global warming in the coming decades, as stated in the Paris Agreement, was set to “well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels”. The interglacial period known as Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, which occurred ca. 400 thousand years ago, is thought to have reached temperatures up to ~2 °C warmer than pre-industrial conditions, making it an excellent case study for investigating the behaviour of Earth’s climate under warmer-than-pre-industrial conditions.

The South Atlantic is particularly important for Earth’s climate, as it represents a major heat reservoir and plays a crucial role in heat transport between the hemispheres. To better understand the behaviour of the South Atlantic under a ~2 °C warmer-than-pre-industrial climate, we are generating and compiling paleoceanographic records from the eastern and western margins of the basin spanning MIS 11 and its preceding deglaciation (Termination V). The outcomes of this research have the potential to greatly improve our understanding of South Atlantic dynamics under warmer-than-pre-industrial climates, thereby helping to constrain plausible future climate scenarios.