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The zonal patterns in late Quaternary South American Monsoon precipitation
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  • Tyler Kukla,
  • Matthew Winnick,
  • Marysa Laguë,
  • Zhengyu Xia
Tyler Kukla
Colorado State University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Matthew Winnick
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Marysa Laguë
James S. McDonnell Foundation
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Zhengyu Xia
Northeast Normal University
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Abstract

Speleothem oxygen isotope records (δ18O) of tropical South American rainfall in the late Quaternary show a zonal “South American Precipitation Dipole” (SAPD). The dipole is characterized by opposing east-west precipitation anomalies compared to the present—wetter in the east and drier in the west at the mid-Holocene (∼7 ka), and drier in the east and wetter in the west at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼21 ka). However, the SAPD remains enigmatic because it is expressed differently in western versus eastern δ18O records and isotope-enabled climate model simulations usually misrepresent the magnitude and/or spatial pattern of δ18O change. Here, we address the SAPD enigma in two parts. First, we re-interpret the δ18O data to account for upwind rainout effects that are known to be pervasive in tropical South America, but are not always considered in Quaternary paleoclimate studies. Our revised interpretation reconciles the δ18O data with cave infiltration and other proxy records, and indicates that the centroid of tropical South American rainfall has migrated zonally over time. Second, using an energy balance model of tropical atmospheric circulation, we hypothesize that zonal migration of the precipitation centroid can be explained by regional energy budget shifts, such as changing Saharan albedo associated with the African Humid Period, that have not been modeled in previous SAPD studies. This hypothesis of a migrating precipitation centroid presents a new framework for interpreting δ18O records from tropical South America and may help explain the zonal rainfall anomalies that predate the late Quaternary.
30 Dec 2022Submitted to ESS Open Archive
31 Dec 2022Published in ESS Open Archive