Extremely Southward Migration of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current During the Last Interglacial

Abstract The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) acts as a critical component to regulate the global thermohaline circulation and climate. However, active debate remains about the relative strength of ACC during current/past warm periods and underlying driving mechanisms. Here, we present sortable silt mean grain size records from the Scotia Sea to infer the ACC strength over the past 160 ka. The 22-ka cycles of sortable silt mean grain size suggest that the precession-driven contraction/expansion of Subtropical Jet dominates the migration of ACC fronts, and thus ACC speed and potential Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation stability. We find that the bottom flow speed during MIS 5e was over three times faster than the Holocene, with no apparent difference in ACC speed between the Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum. We suggest that a southward shift of oceanic fronts of ~5° could cause the additional speed-up of ACC during MIS 5e. This could induce warmer water flowing in the ACC to approach and melt the Antarctica continental ice shelves, with corresponding effects on global sea level and the global climate.