Planktonic foraminifera Mg/Ca-based temperatures and planktonic foraminiferal cenus counts of core GeoB10065-7 (Lombok Basin, Indonesia)

Modern variability in upwelling off southern Indonesia is strongly controlled by the Australian-Indonesian monsoon and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, but multi-decadal to centennial-scale variations are less clear. We present high-resolution records of upper water column temperature, thermal gradient and relative abundances of mixed layer- and thermocline-dwelling planktonic foraminiferal species off southern Indonesia for the past two millennia that we use as proxies for upwelling variability. We find that upwelling was generally strong during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and weak during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Roman Warm Period (RWP). Upwelling is significantly anti-correlated to East Asian summer monsoonal rainfall and the zonal equatorial Pacific temperature gradient. We suggest that changes in the background state of the tropical Pacific may have substantially contributed to the centennial-scale upwelling trends observed in our records. Our results implicate the prevalence of an El Niño-like mean state during the LIA and a La Niña-like mean state during the MWP and the RWP.

Bottom water properties observed during Nathanial B. Palmer cruises NBP00-08 and NBP04-08 to the Southern Ocean

We report on observations of dense shelf water overflows and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) formation along the continental margin of the Adelie and George V Land coast between 140°E and 149°E. Vertical sections and bottom layer water mass properties sampled during two RVIB Nathaniel B Palmer hydrographic surveys (NBP00-08, December 2000/January 2001 and NBP04-08, October 2004) describe the spreading of cold, dense shelf water on the continental slope and rise from two independent source regions. The primary source region is the Adelie Depression, exporting high-salinity dense shelf water through the Adelie Sill at 143°E. An additional eastern source region of lower-salinity dense shelf water from the Mertz Depression is identified for the first time from bottom layer properties northwest of the Mertz Sill and Mertz Bank (146°E-148°E) that extend as far as the Buffon Channel (144.75°E) in summer. Regional analysis of satellite-derived ice production estimates over the entire region from 1992 to 2005 suggests that up to 40% of the total ice production for the region occurs over the Mertz Depression and therefore this area is likely to make a significant contribution to the total dense shelf water export. Concurrent time series from bottom-mounted Microcats and ADCP instruments from the Mertz Polynya Experiment (April 1998 to May 1999) near the Adelie Sill and on the upper continental slope (1150 m) and lower continental rise (3250 m) to the north describe the seasonal variability in downslope events and their interaction with the ambient water masses. The critical density for shelf water to produce AABW is examined and found to be 27.85 kg/m**3 from the Adelie Depression and as low as 27.80 kg/m**3 from the Mertz Depression. This study suggests previous dense shelf water export estimates based on the flow through the Adelie Sill alone are conservative and that other regions around East Antarctica with similar ice production to the Mertz Depression could be contributing to the total AABW in the Australian-Antarctic Basin.

Pollen records of profile Krumbach from southern Germany

Some years ago a fossil lake basin was found in the northeastern part of the former Rhine-pied- mont-glacier, situated between the endmoraine system ofthe elassical Riß- andWürm glacia- tions, respectively. The lacustrine sediments contain the pollenflora ofthe Eemian interglacial. They are intensively thrusted. These sediments are eovered by a loam-layer, rieh in elasts. The thickness of this loam-layer varies between at least 170 and 400 cm. It consists in its major part of loess-loam and solifluction material. Yet just on top of the lake sediments mentioned an in- tensively compressed loam, characterized by quarzgrains with all features of glacially pressed material, together with striated elasts is met with. It strongly resembles atil!. Ifthis is true, the stratigraphie division ofthe last glaciation strongly deviates from the hitherto accepted scheme, incorporating an early glacier advance, long before the elassical young-endmoraine systems of the Würm glaciation were formed.

Phytomass and soil carbon storage of different land cover classes in the Usa river basin

This study describes detailed partitioning of phytomass carbon (C) and soil organic carbon (SOC) for four study areas in discontinuous permafrost terrain, Northeast European Russia. The mean aboveground phytomass C storage is 0.7 kg C/m**2. Estimated landscape SOC storage in the four areas varies between 34.5 and 47.0 kg C/m**2 with LCC (land cover classification) upscaling and 32.5-49.0 kg C/m**2 with soil map upscaling. A nested upscaling approach using a Landsat thematic mapper land cover classification for the surrounding region provides estimates within 5 ± 5% of the local high-resolution estimates. Permafrost peat plateaus hold the majority of total and frozen SOC, especially in the more southern study areas. Burying of SOC through cryoturbation of O- or A-horizons contributes between 1% and 16% (mean 5%) of total landscape SOC. The effect of active layer deepening and thermokarst expansion on SOC remobilization is modeled for one of the four areas. The active layer thickness dynamics from 1980 to 2099 is modeled using a transient spatially distributed permafrost model and lateral expansion of peat plateau thermokarst lakes is simulated using geographic information system analyses. Active layer deepening is expected to increase the proportion of SOC affected by seasonal thawing from 29% to 58%. A lateral expansion of 30 m would increase the amount of SOC stored in thermokarst lakes/fens from 2% to 22% of all SOC. By the end of this century, active layer deepening will likely affect more SOC than thermokarst expansion, but the SOC stores vulnerable to thermokarst are less decomposed.

Neogene palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic events inferred from palynological data: Cape Basin off South Africa, ODP Leg 175

Sites 1085, 1086 and 1087 were drilled off South Africa during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 175 to investigate the Benguela Current System. While previous studies have focused on reconstructing the Neogene palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic history of these sites, palynology has been largely ignored, except for the Late Pliocene and Quaternary. This study presents palynological data from the upper Middle Miocene to lower Upper Pliocene sediments in Holes 1085A, 1086A and 1087C that provide complementary information about the history of the area. Abundant and diverse marine palynomorphs (mainly dinoflagellate cysts), rare spores and pollen, and dispersed organic matter have been recovered. Multivariate statistical analysis of dispersed organic matter identified three palynofacies assemblages (A, B, C) in the most continuous hole (1085A), and they were defined primarily by amorphous organic matter (AOM), and to a lesser extent black debris, structured phytoclasts, degraded phytoclasts, and marine palynomorphs. Ecostratigraphic interpretation based on dinoflagellate cyst, spore-pollen and palynofacies data allowed us to identify several palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic signals. First, the late Middle Miocene was subtropical, and sediments contained the highest percentages of land-derived organic matter, even though they are rich in AOM (palynofacies assemblage A). Second, the Late Miocene was cool-temperate and characterized by periods of intensified upwelling, increase in productivity, abundant and diverse oceanic dinoflagellate cysts, and the highest percentages of AOM (palynofacies assemblage C). Third, the Early to early Late Pliocene was warm-temperate with some dry intervals (increase in grass pollen) and intensified upwelling. Fourth, the Neogene "carbonate crash" identified in other southern oceans was recognized in two palynofacies A samples in Hole 1085A that are nearly barren of dinoflagellate cysts: one Middle Miocene sample (590 mbsf, 13.62 Ma) and one Upper Miocene sample (355 mbsf, 6.5 Ma). Finally, the extremely low percentages of pollen suggest sparse vegetation on the adjacent landmass, and Namib desert conditions were already in existence during the late Middle Miocene.

Physical/chemical properties and stable oxygen and carbon isotope records of Holocene to late Pleistocene sediments in the Gela Basin, central Mediterranean Sea

The Holocene Twin Slides form the most recent of recurrent mass wasting events along the NE portion of Gela Basin within the Sicily Channel, central Mediterranean Sea. Here, we present new evidence on the morphological evolution and stratigraphic context of this coeval slide complex based on deepdrilled sediment sequences providing a >100 ka paleo-oceanographic record. Both Northern (NTS) and Southern Twin Slide (STS) involve two failure stages, a debris avalanche and a translational slide, but are strongly affected by distinct preconditioning factors linked to the older and buried Father Slide. Core-acoustic correlations suggest that sliding occurred along sub-horizontal weak layers reflecting abrupt physical changes in lithology or mechanical properties. Our results show further that headwall failure predominantly took place along sub-vertical normal faults, partly through reactivation of buried Father Slide headscarps.

Coccolith fluxes in the Santa Barbara Basin

We investigate the long-term stability of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation based on the examination of coccolithophore assemblages in a largely laminated 35 ka sedimentary record, retrieved in the Santa Barbara Basin (core MD02-2503). At a centennial scale coccolith assemblages indicate low primary production in the basin from 35 to 11.5 ka B.P., whereas the Holocene is characterized by high-productivity conditions. This pattern demonstrates the influence of the glacial-interglacial cycles on productivity and, by inference, on the nutrient supply by the upwelling cell off Point of Conception. On a shorter scale, laminations associated with Dansgaard-Oeschger events appear to be due to an injection of poorly oxygenated waters in the deepest part of the basin rather than anoxia due to high primary production. A seasonal sampling in seven laminated sections (spanning from 20 to 220 years) extracted from Holocene, Bølling-Allerød, and Dansgaard-Oeschger event 3 indicates El Niño probably existed continuously during the last 28 ka. The frequency of El Niño varied through time (between 1/2.5 and 1/5 event/a) and appearing to follow the precession cycle. El Niño exhibits higher (lower) frequencies when the precession values are lower (higher). Finally, the Holocene is characterized by a decrease in El Niño's frequencies due to the reinforcement of El Niño through this period.

Quantification and molecular characterization of dissolved organic sulfur in water samples obtained during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXV (PS73) to the East Atlantic and the Southern Ocean

Although sulfur is an essential element for marine primary production and critical for climate processes, little is known about the oceanic pool of non-volatile dissolved organic sulfur (DOS). We present a basin-scale distribution of solid phase extractable DOS in the East Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. While molar DOS versus dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) ratios of 0.11 ± 0.024 in Atlantic surface water resembled phytoplankton stoichiometry (S/N ~ 0.08), increasing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) versus DOS ratios and decreasing methionine-S yield demonstrated selective DOS removal and active involvement in marine biogeochemical cycles. Based on stoichiometric estimates, the minimum global inventory of marine DOS is 6.7 Pg S, exceeding all other marine organic sulfur reservoirs by an order of magnitude.

Abundance of phytoplankton in the Cilician Basin during the Bilim 2 cruise in March 2008

The dataset is composed of 57 samples from 15 stations. The phytoplankton samples were collected by 5l Niskin bottles attached to the CTD system. The sampling depths were selected according to the CTD profiles and the in situ fluorometer readings. The samples (50 ml sea water) were preserved with prefiltered (0.2 micron) glutardialdehyde solution (1.5 ml of commercial glutardialdehyde (25%)) into dark colored glass bottles. Preserved samples were poured into 10 or 25 ml settling chambers (Hydro-Bios) for cells to settle on the bottom over a day. Species identification and enumeration were done under an inverted microscope (Olympus IX71). At least 400 specimen were tried to be counted in each sample.