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Nonlinear variability of the climatic system from singular and power spectra of Late Quaternary records

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Abstract

Stable-isotope records from seven marine cores and one ice core provide invaluable information on the intricate behavior of the climatic system over time scales of 104 to 105 years. These records, in conjunction with a simple coupled climate model, help us understand major mechanisms of paleoclimatic variability. The time intervals covered by the records include the last glacial-interglacial cycle. In spite of the difference in the nature of the records, common features are revealed by advanced spectral-analysis tools. The dominant features are the presence of orbital frequencies, on the one hand, and a low number of internal degrees of freedom, on the other. The climatic system appears therefore to act on the Quaternary time scales considered as a forced nonlinear oscillator. The internal mechanisms giving rise to the aperiodic oscillations include ice-albedo feedback, precipitation-temperature feedback, and interactions between the ice sheets and the bedrock.

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  1. Laboratoire de Modélisation du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA-DSM, CE de Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    P Yiou, J Jouzel & D Paillard

  2. Climate Dynamics Center, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, CA, Los Angeles, 90024-1565, USA

    M Ghil

  3. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement-CNRS, BP 96, F-38402, St Martin d'Hères Cedex, France

    J Jouzel

  4. Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du CNRS, École Normale Supérieure, 24, rue Lhomond, F-75005, Paris, France

    R Vautard

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Yiou, P., Ghil, M., Jouzel, J. et al. Nonlinear variability of the climatic system from singular and power spectra of Late Quaternary records. Climate Dynamics 9, 371–389 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00207933

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