Articles | Volume 22, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-797-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-797-2026
Research article
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17 Apr 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 17 Apr 2026

Interplay of North Atlantic freshening and deep convection during the last deglaciation constrained by Iberian speleothems

Laura Endres, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Ruza Ivanovic, Lauren Gregoire, Anna L. C. Hughes, Hai Cheng, and Heather Stoll

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Cited articles

Alley, R. B. and Clark, P. U.: The deglaciation of the Northern Hemisphere: a global perspective, Annu. Rev. Earth Pl. Sc., 27, 149–182, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.27.1.149, 1999. a
Alvarez-Solas, J. and Ramstein, G.: On the triggering mechanism of Heinrich events, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1116575108, 2011. a, b, c
Armstrong, E., Izumi, K., and Valdes, P.: Identifying the mechanisms of DO-scale oscillations in a GCM: a salt oscillator triggered by the Laurentide ice sheet, Clim. Dynam., 60, 3983–4001, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06564-y, 2023. a
Barker, S. and Knorr, G.: Millennial scale feedbacks determine the shape and rapidity of glacial termination, Nat. Commun., 12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22388-6, 2021. a
Barker, S., Chen, J., Gong, X., Jonkers, L., Knorr, G., and Thornalley, D.: Icebergs not the trigger for North Atlantic cold events, Nature, 520, 333–336, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14330, 2015. a
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Editorial statement
This study provides valuable insight into the timing of meltwater events and associated response of AMOC during the last deglaciation. The strength of the work lies in its precisely dated chronology from a northwest Iberian stalagmite, which overcomes the chronological limitations of North Atlantic sediment records. As highlighted by Reviewer 2 “this represents a substantial advance given the impasse in what is possible based on the less precise dates of sediment cores in this interval.” The analysis of multiple proxies within the same stalagmite allows the authors to directly compare the timing of surface ocean freshening relative to regional temperature changes. Their findings reinforce the hypothesis that the AMOC response to freshwater forcing is nonlinear and may involve threshold-like transitions that are dependent on background climate states. This has broader relevance to the ongoing debate surrounding future AMOC stability.
Short summary
Stable isotope data of a precisely dated stalagmite from northwestern Iberia indicate gradual North Atlantic meltwater input during the last glacial maximum, followed by abrupt surges early in the last deglaciation. The first abrupt surge was decoupled from first cooling about 810 years later – unlike later events – which reveals that the Atlantic circulation’s sensitivity to meltwater is variable and related to the evolving background climate boundary conditions.
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