Natural Sciences, Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, NY 12970, USA.
Science. 2011 Mar 11;331(6022):1299-302. doi: 10.1126/science.1198322. Epub 2011 Feb 24.
Between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago, large amounts of ice and meltwater entered the North Atlantic during Heinrich stadial 1. This caused substantial regional cooling, but major climatic impacts also occurred in the tropics. Here, we demonstrate that the height of this stadial, about 16,000 to 17,000 years ago (Heinrich event 1), coincided with one of the most extreme and widespread megadroughts of the past 50,000 years or more in the Afro-Asian monsoon region, with potentially serious consequences for Paleolithic cultures. Late Quaternary tropical drying commonly is attributed to southward drift of the intertropical convergence zone, but the broad geographic range of the Heinrich event 1 megadrought suggests that severe, systemic weakening of Afro-Asian rainfall systems also occurred, probably in response to sea surface cooling.
大约 16000 到 17000 年前，正值 Heinrich 冰期 1 盛期，大量的冰和冰水涌入北大西洋。这导致了大规模的区域性冷却，但热带地区也发生了重大的气候影响。在这里，我们证明了这个盛期的高度，大约在 15000 到 18000 年前（Heinrich 事件 1），与过去 50000 年或更长时间以来非洲-亚洲季风区最极端和最广泛的超级干旱之一相吻合，这对旧石器时代的文化可能产生了严重的后果。晚第四纪热带干旱通常归因于热带辐合带的向南漂移，但 Heinrich 事件 1 超级干旱的广泛地理范围表明，非洲-亚洲降雨系统也发生了严重的、系统性的减弱，可能是对海面冷却的反应。
