Pulses of South Atlantic water into the tropical North Atlantic since 1825 from coral isotopes

Abstract

Decadal and multidecadal changes in the meridional overturning circulation may originate from either the subpolar North Atlantic or the Southern Hemisphere. New records of carbon and oxygen isotopes from an eastern Martinique Island (Lesser Antilles) coral reveal irregular, decadal, double-step events of low ∆ 14 C and enhanced vertical mixing, high δ 18 O and high δ 13 C values starting in 1885. Comparison of the new and published ∆ 14 C records indicates that the last event (1956–1969) coincides with a widespread, double-step ∆ 14 C low of South Atlantic origin from 32°N to 18°S, associated with a major slowdown of the Caribbean Current transport between 1963 and 1969. This event and the past Martinique ∆ 14 C lows are attributed to pulses of northward advection of low ∆ 14 C Sub-Antarctic Mode Waters into the tropical Atlantic. They are coeval with changes of the tropical freshwater budget and likely driven by meridional overturning circulation changes since ~1880.