Abstract The tropics are a dynamic component of the global climate system and exert a profound influence on modern climate variability. Yet the role of the tropics in past climate changes, for example during the last glacial termination, is uncertain. This uncertainty is due in part to the relative paucity of terrestrial temperature records from the tropics, which hinders efforts to understand the mechanisms that influenced deglacial warming and abrupt climate events. Tropical glaciers are sensitive to changes in climate, and mapping and dating past tropical glacial fluctuations provides a valuable record of terrestrial climate changes in the low latitudes. We report a chronology of past glacial extents in the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda (0.3°N, 29.9°E) based on 51 beryllium-10 (10Be) surface-exposure ages from three separate glacial catchments. Results indicate that Rwenzori glaciers retreated considerably during Heinrich Stadial 1. The rate of net glacial recession slowed between ∼15 and 11 ka, although glaciers continued to retreat during this period. Rwenzori glaciers then retreated more rapidly during the early Holocene. The Rwenzori glacial chronology is broadly similar to glacial chronologies reconstructed elsewhere in East Africa and in tropical South America. We suggest that this similarity may reflect coherent, tropics-wide temperature fluctuations during the last deglaciation. The Rwenzori glacial chronology provides crucial information on the global footprint of deglacial warming and abrupt climate events and, thus, the potential mechanisms that influenced tropical climate during the last glacial termination.

中文翻译：

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末次冰期终止期间热带非洲的冰川波动及其对末次盛冰期后热带气候的影响

摘要 热带地区是全球气候系统的动态组成部分，对现代气候变率有着深远的影响。然而，热带在过去气候变化中的作用，例如在最后一次冰川终止期间，尚不确定。这种不确定性部分是由于热带地区的陆地温度记录相对较少，这阻碍了了解影响冰消期变暖和突然气候事件的机制的努力。热带冰川对气候变化很敏感，对过去热带冰川波动的测绘和测年提供了低纬度陆地气候变化的宝贵记录。我们根据来自三个独立冰川集水区的 51 个铍 10 (10Be) 表面暴露年龄报告了乌干达鲁文佐里山脉 (0.3°N, 29.9°E) 过去冰川范围的年表。结果表明，鲁文佐里冰川在 Heinrich Stadial 1 期间大幅退缩。净冰川退缩的速度在 15 至 11 ka 之间放缓，尽管在此期间冰川继续退缩。在全新世早期，鲁文佐里冰川退缩得更快。鲁文佐里冰川年表与东非其他地方和南美洲热带地区重建的冰川年表大致相似。我们认为这种相似性可能反映了最后一次冰消期间连贯的、热带范围内的温度波动。鲁文佐里冰川年表提供了关于冰消期变暖和突然气候事件的全球足迹的重要信息，从而提供了在最后一次冰川终止期间影响热带气候的潜在机制。