Dawson, Robin R. and Burns, Stephen J. and Tiger, Benjamin H. and McGee, David and Faina, Peterson and Scroxton, Nick and Godfrey, Laurie R. and Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa (2024) Zonal control on Holocene precipitation in northwestern Madagascar based on a stalagmite from Anjohibe. Scientific Reports, 14 (1). ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

The Malagasy Summer Monsoon is an important part of the larger Indian Ocean and tropical monsoon region. As the effects of global warming play out, changes to precipitation in Madagascar will have important ramifications for the Malagasy people. To help understand how precipitation responds to climate changes we present a long-term Holocene speleothem record from Anjohibe, part of the Andranoboka cave system in northwestern Madagascar. To date, it is the most complete Holocene record from this region and sheds light on the nature of millennial and centennial precipitation changes in this region. We find that over the Holocene, precipitation in northwestern Madagascar is actually in phase with the Northern Hemisphere Asian monsoon on multi-millennial scales, but that during some shorter centennial-scale events such as the 8.2 ka event, Anjohibe exhibits an antiphase precipitation signal to the Northern Hemisphere. The ultimate driver of precipitation changes across the Holocene does not appear to be the meridional migration of the monsoon. Instead, zonal sea surface temperature gradients in the Indian Ocean seem to play a primary role in precipitation changes in northwestern Madagascar.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Holocene; Madagascar; Anjohibe; precipitation changes;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS
Item ID:	18258
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55909-6
Depositing User:	Corinne Voces
Date Deposited:	28 Mar 2024 15:02
Journal or Publication Title:	Scientific Reports
Publisher:	Springer Nature
Refereed:	Yes
Funders:	This work was supported by the National Science Foundation awards AGS-2102923/2102975, and AGS- 1702891/1702691 to SJB and DM and BCS 1750598 to LRG and SJB.
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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