Antarctic Warming during Heinrich Stadial 1 in a Transient Isotope-Enabled Deglacial Simulation

Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) was the major climate event at the onset of the last deglaciation associated with rapid cooling in Greenland and lagged, slow warming in Antarctica. Although it is widely believed that temperature signals were triggered in the Northern Hemisphere and propagated southward associated with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), understanding how these signals were able to cross the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) barrier and further warm up Antarctica has proven particularly challenging. In this study, we explore the physical processes that lead to the Antarctic warming during HS1 in a transient isotope-enabled deglacial simulation iTRACE, in which the interpolar phasing has been faithfully reproduced. We show that the increased meridional heat transport alone, first through the ocean and then through the atmosphere, can explain the Antarctic warming during the early stage of HS1 without notable changes in the strength and position of the Southern Hemisphere midlatitude westerlies. In particular, when a reduction of the AMOC causes ocean warming to the north of the ACC, increased southward ocean heat transport by mesoscale eddies is triggered by steeper isopycnals to warm up the ocean beyond the ACC, which further decreases the sea ice concentration and leads to more absorption of insolation. The increased atmospheric heat then releases to the Antarctic primarily by a strengthening zonal wavenumber-3 (ZW3) pattern. Sensitivity experiments further suggest that a similar to 4 degrees C warming caused by this mechanism superimposed on a comparable warming driven by the background atmospheric CO2 rise is able to explain the total simulated similar to 8 degrees C warming in the West Antarctica during HS1.

Automated summary

In this study, the physical processes leading to the warming of Antarctica during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) were explored. The results show that increased meridional heat transport, particularly through ocean heat transport by mesoscale eddies, and atmospheric heat release through a strengthening zonal wavenumber-3 (ZW3) pattern can explain the warming in Antarctica during HS1.