Glacial to Holocene swings of the Australian-Indonesian monsoon

TitleGlacial to Holocene swings of the Australian-Indonesian monsoon
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsMohtadi, M, Oppo, DW, Steinke, S, Stuut, J-BW, De Pol-Holz, R, Hebbeln, D, Lueckge, A
JournalNature Geoscience
Volume4
Issue8
Pagination540-544
ISSN1752-0894
Abstract

The Australian-Indonesian monsoon is an important component of the climate system in the tropical Indo-Pacific region(1). However, its past variability, relation with northern and southern high-latitude climate and connection to the other Asian monsoon systems are poorly understood. Here we present high-resolution records of monsoon-controlled austral winter upwelling during the past 22,000 years, based on planktic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes and faunal composition in a sedimentary archive collected offshore southern Java. We show that glacial-interglacial variations in the Australian-Indonesian winter monsoon were in phase with the Indian summer monsoon system, consistent with their modern linkage through cross-equatorial surface winds. Likewise, millennial-scale variability of upwelling shares similar sign and timing with upwelling variability in the Arabian Sea. On the basis of element composition and grain-size distribution as precipitation-sensitive proxies in the same archive, we infer that (austral) summer monsoon rainfall was highest during the Bolling-Allerod period and the past 2,500 years. Our results indicate drier conditions during Heinrich Stadial 1 due to a southward shift of summer rainfall and a relatively weak Hadley cell south of the Equator. We suggest that the Australian-Indonesian summer and winter monsoon variability were closely linked to summer insolation and abrupt climate changes in the northern hemisphere.

DOI10.1038/NGEO1209