Czynniki zmian klimatycznych w środkowym i górnym plejstocenie : ich zapis geologiczny w osadach Oceanu Południowego oraz rdzeniach lodowych

Climate changes during the Pleistocene were driven by large-scale orbital perturbations as well as by internal feedbacks on the Earth. One of the main roles in climate modelling is played by the Southern Ocean that is a great source of sea ice, carbon dioxide, dissolved silica and nutrients. Numerous sediment and ice records derived from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica document high-resolution climatic changes that allow us a better understanding of global climate evolution. Consistently with the global climatic trend, several sea surface temperature (SST) records of the Southern Ocean are marked by a distinct shift from low to high glacial/interglacial variability around Termination V (T V), called the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE). Prior to T V, the Southern Ocean’s SST displays lower values and low variability. It points to a distinct expansion of the Southern Ocean cold water masses and positional changes of hydrographical fronts during most of the lower Middle Pleistocene, which started in the Pliocene. Beside large climatic changes, several abrupt distinct warming and cooling phases have been recognized. Some of them (MIS 22–19, MIS 11 and MIS 5) show similarities to MIS 1, which could be used for future climate predictions. In this paper we would like to present the middle and late Pleistocene climatic mechanisms in the Southern Ocean, and to show SST changes in relation to the hydrographic frontal movement, sea ice development and CO2 oscillations.