García Juan L. author Kaplan Michael R. author Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory L. Hall Brenda author Schaefer Joerg M. author Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University. Earth and Environmental Sciences Vega Rodrigo M. author Schwartz Roseanne G. author Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Finkel Robert author Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory originator text Articles 2012 English Resolving debated climate changes in the southern middle latitudes and potential teleconnections between southern temperate and polar latitudes during the last glacial-interglacial transition is required to help understand the cause of the termination of ice ages. Outlet glaciers of the Patagonian Ice Fields are primarily sensitive to atmospheric temperature and also precipitation, thus former ice margins record the extent and timing of past climate changes. 38 10Be exposure ages from moraines show that outlet glaciers in Torres del Paine (51°S, south Patagonia, Chile) advanced during the time of the Antarctic cold reversal (ACR; ca. 14.6–12.8 ka), reaching a maximum extent by ∼14,200 ± 560 yr ago. The evidence here indicates that the South Patagonian Ice Field was responding to late glacial climate change distinctly earlier than the onset of the European Younger Dryas stadial (ca. 12.9 ka). Major glacier recession and deglaciation in the Torres del Paine region occurred by 12.5 ka and thus early in the Younger Dryas. We provide direct evidence for extensive ice in Patagonia at the very start of the ACR that agrees with atmospheric and marine records from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Atmospheric conditions responsible for the early late glacial expansion at Torres del Paine resulted from a climate reorganization that prompted a northern migration of the south westerly wind belt to the latitude of Torres del Paine at the onset of the ACR chronozone. Geology 40 9 859 862 2012-09 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33164.1 http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14816 NNC NNC 2012-10-02 16:25:18 -0400 2012-10-08 10:15:01 -0400 8822 eng