Late-glacial to late-Holocene shifts in global precipitation δ18O

Reconstructions of Quaternary climate are often based on the isotopic content of paleo-precipitation preserved in proxy records. While many paleo-precipitation isotope records are available, few studies have synthesized these dispersed records to explore spatial patterns of late-glacial precipitation delta O-18. Here we present a synthesis of 86 globally distributed groundwater (n = 59), cave calcite (n = 15) and ice core (n = 12) isotope records spanning the late-glacial (defined as similar to 50 000 to similar to 20 000 years ago) to the late-Holocene (within the past similar to 5000 years). We show that precipitation delta O-18 changes from the late-glacial to the late-Holocene range from -7.1% (delta O-18(late-Holocene) > delta O-18(late-glacial)) to + 1.7% (delta O-18(late-glacial) > delta O-18(late-Holocene)), with the majority (77 %) of records having lower late-glacial delta O-18 than late-Holocene delta O-18 values. High-magnitude, negative precipitation delta O-18 shifts are common at high latitudes, high altitudes and continental interiors (delta O-18(late-Holocene) > delta O-18(late-glacial) by more than 3 %). Conversely, low-magnitude, positive precipitation delta O-18 shifts are concentrated along tropical and subtropical coasts (delta O-18(late-glacial) > delta O-18(late-Holocene) by less than 2 %). Broad, global patterns of late-glacial to late-Holocene precipitation delta O-18 shifts suggest that stronger-than-modern isotopic distillation of air masses prevailed during the late-glacial, likely impacted by larger global temperature differences between the tropics and the poles. Further, to test how well general circulation models reproduce global precipitation delta O-18 shifts, we compiled simulated precipitation delta O-18 shifts from five isotope-enabled general circulation models simulated under recent and last glacial maximum climate states. Climate simulations generally show better intermodel and model-measurement agreement in temperate regions than in the tropics, highlighting a need for further research to better understand how inter-model spread in convective rainout, seawater delta O-18 and glacial topography parameterizations impact simulated precipitation delta O-18. Future research on paleo-precipitation delta O-18 records can use the global maps of measured and simulated late-glacial precipitation isotope compositions to target and prioritize field sites.