Climate of the Past www.clim-past.net 1814-9324 1814-9332 6 4 2010 10.5194/cp-6-431-2010 http://www.clim-past.net/6/431/2010/ http://www.clim-past.net/6/431/2010/cp-6-431-2010.html http://www.clim-past.net/6/431/2010/cp-6-431-2010.pdf 431 443 2010-07-16 Interhemispheric coupling, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and warm Antarctic interglacials P. B. Holden p.b.holden@open.ac.uk N. R. Edwards E. W. Wolff N. J. Lang J. S. Singarayer P. J. Valdes T. F. Stocker Earth and Environmental Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Ice core evidence indicates that even though atmospheric CO₂ concentrations did not exceed ~300 ppm at any point during the last 800 000 years, East Antarctica was at least ~3–4 °C warmer than preindustrial (CO₂~280 ppm) in each of the last four interglacials. During the previous three interglacials, this anomalous warming was short lived (~3000 years) and apparently occurred before the completion of Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. Hereafter, we refer to these periods as "Warmer than Present Transients" (WPTs). We present a series of experiments to investigate the impact of deglacial meltwater on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and Antarctic temperature. It is well known that a slowed AMOC would increase southern sea surface temperature (SST) through the bipolar seesaw and observational data suggests that the AMOC remained weak throughout the terminations preceding WPTs, strengthening rapidly at a time which coincides closely with peak Antarctic temperature. 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