Modeling dust emission variations in Eastern Europe related to North-Atlantic abrupt climate changes of the last glacial period

The European loess sequences of the last glacial period (~ 100-15 kyr BP) show periods of strong dust accumulation alternating with episodes of reduced (or no) sedimentation, allowing soil development. For the main loess sedimentation period (~ 40 - 15 kyr BP), data indicate a correlation between these variations and the North Atlantic rapid climate changes: the Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich (H) events. We use numerical modeling to investigate the relationship between the North-Atlantic abrupt changes and the sedimentation variations in Europe. A first study (Sima et al, QSR, 2009) focused on western Europe, and addressed the impact on dust emission of North-Atlantic SST changes as those associated to DO and H events. It proposed that vegetation played a key role in modulating dust emission variations in western European source areas. Here we focus on eastern Europe, especially on the areas north and north-east of the Carpathian Mountains, where loess deposits have recorded DO and H events (Rousseau et al. Clim. Past D, 2010). As in the previous study, we use the LMDZ AGCM and the SECHIBA land-surface models to simulate a reference glacial state (“stadial”), a cold (“HE”) and a warm (“DO interstadial”) perturbation, all corresponding to Marine Isotope Stage 3 conditions. We follow the same protocol as for the study on the west-European sector to analyze the impact of the climate factors and surface conditions on dust emission. The simulated most active emission areas are compatible with the loess deposit distribution, and the key role of vegetation in stadial-interstadial dust emission variations is confirmed.