Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from TETHYS Expedition stations

The cores and dredges described in this report were taken on the TETHYS Expedition from June 1960 until July 1960 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the R/V Spencer F. Baird. A total of 124 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the TRIPOD Expedition stations

The cores and dredges described in this report were taken on the TRIPOD Expedition from November until December 1966 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the R/V Argo. A total of 38 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study.

Foraminiferal faunal estimates of paleotemperature: Circumventing the no-analog problem yields cool ice age tropics

The sensitivity of the tropics to climate change, particularly the amplitude of glacial-to-interglacial changes in sea surface temperature (SST), is one of the great controversies in paleoclimatology. Here we reassess faunal estimates of ice age SSTs, focusing on the problem of no-analog planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the equatorial oceans that confounds both classical transfer function and modern analog methods. A new calibration strategy developed here, which uses past variability of species to define robust faunal assemblages, solves the no-analog problem and reveals ice age cooling of 5° to 6°C in the equatorial current systems of the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Classical transfer functions underestimated temperature changes in some areas of the tropical oceans because core-top assemblages misrepresented the ice age faunal assemblages. Our finding is consistent with some geochemical estimates and model predictions of greater ice age cooling in the tropics than was inferred by Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction (CLIMAP) [1981] and thus may help to resolve a long-standing controversy. Our new foraminiferal transfer function suggests that such cooling was limited to the equatorial current systems, however, and supports CLIMAP's inference of stability of the subtropical gyre centers.

(Table 1, page 1376) Chemical analyses of manganese nodules and crusts from the Pacific Ocean

A compilation of chemical analyses of Pacific Ocean nodules using an x-ray fluorescence technique. The equipment used was a General Electric XRD-5 with a tungsten tube. Lithium fluoride was used as the diffraction element in assaying for all elements above calcium in the atomic table and EDDT was used in conjunction with a helium path for all elements with an atomic number less than calcium. Flow counters were used in conjunction with a pulse height analyzer to eliminate x-ray lines of different but integral orders in gathering count data. The stability of the equipment was found to be excellent by the author. The equipment was calibrated by the use of standard ores made from pure oxide forms of the elements in the nodules and carefully mixed in proportion to the amounts of these elements generally found in the manganese nodules. Chemically analyzed standards of the nodules themselves were also used. As a final check, a known amount of the element in question was added to selected samples of the nodules and careful counts were taken on these samples before and after the addition of the extra amount of the element. The method involved the determination and subsequent use of absorption and activation factors for the lines of the various elements. All the absorption and activation factors were carefully determined using the standard ores. The chemically analyzed samples of the nodules by these methods yielded an accuracy to at least three significant figures.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from STYX expedition stations

The cores described in this paper were taken in the tropical central Pacific Ocean by Scripps Institution of Oceanography's R/V Alexander Agassiz on the STYX Expedition of April-September 1968. A total of 132 cores were attempted of which 97 were successful. These cores are available at Scripps for sampling and study.

Planktonic foraminiferal faunas from surface-sediment samples from the South China Sea and the western Pacific

We present 30 new planktonic foraminiferal census data of surface sediment samples from the South China Sea, recovered between 630 and 2883 m water depth. These new data, together with the 131 earlier published data sets from the western Pacific, are used for calibrating the SIMMAX-28 transfer function to estimate past sea-surface temperatures. This regional SIMMAX method offers a slightly better understanding of the marginal sea conditions of the South China Sea than the linear transfer function FP-12E, which is based only on open-ocean data. However, both methods are biased toward the tropical temperature regime because of the very limited data from temperate to subpolar regions. The SIMMAX formula was applied to sediment core 17940 from the northeastern South China Sea, with sedimentation rates of 20-80 cm/ka. Results revealed nearly unchanged summer temperatures around 28°C for the last 30 ky, while winter temperatures varied between 19.5°C in the last glacial maximum and 26°C during the Holocene. During Termination 1A, the winter estimates show a Younger Dryas cooling by 3°C subsequent to a temperature optimum of 24°C during the Bölling=Alleröd. Estimates of winter temperature differences between 0 and 100 m water depth document the seasonal variations in the thickness of the mixed layer and provide a new proxy for estimating past changes in the strength of the winter monsoon.

Collection of data on aboveground invertebrates in the Jena Experiment (time series since 2002)

This collection contains measurements of abundance and diversity of different groups of aboveground invertebrates sampled on the plots of the different sub-experiments at the field site of a large grassland biodiversity experiment (the Jena Experiment; see further details below). In the main experiment, 82 grassland plots of 20 x 20 m were established from a pool of 60 species belonging to four functional groups (grasses, legumes, tall and small herbs). In May 2002, varying numbers of plant species from this species pool were sown into the plots to create a gradient of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 species) and functional richness (1, 2, 3, 4 functional groups). Plots were maintained by bi-annual weeding and mowing. The following series of datasets are contained in this collection: 1. Measurements of ant abundance (number of individuals attracted to baits) and ant occurrence (binary data) in the Main Experiment in 2006 and 2013. Ants where sampled using two types of baited traps receiving ~10g of Tuna or ~10g of honey/Sucrose. After 30min the occurrence (presence = 1 / absence = 0) and abundance (number) of ants at the two types of baits was recorded and pooled per plot.

Ant abundance and occurrence along the plant diversity gradient in the Jena Experiment (Main Experiment, year 2006)

This data set contains measurements of ant abundance (number of individuals observed at the baits) and ant occurrence (binary data) measured in the Main Experiment plots of a large grassland biodiversity experiment (the Jena Experiment; see further details below). Ants were sampled in 80 plots of the Main Experiment using baited traps in July 2006. In each plot two petri dishes were set on the ground, one received ~10g of Tuna the other ~10g of sugar (Sucrose). After 30min the occurrence (presence = 1 / absence = 0) and abundance (number) of ants at the two baits was recorded. Given is, per plot, the sum of ants attracted to the two different baits. In the Main Experiment, 82 grassland plots of 20 x 20 m were established from a pool of 60 species belonging to four functional groups (grasses, legumes, tall and small herbs). In May 2002, varying numbers of plant species from this species pool were sown in the plots to create a gradient of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 species) and functional richness (1, 2, 3, or 4 functional groups). Plots were maintained by bi-annual weeding and mowing.

Ant abundance and occurrence along the plant diversity gradient in the Jena Experiment (Main Experiment, year 2013)

This data set contains measurements of ant abundance (number of individuals attracted to baits) and ant occurrence (binary data) measured in the Main Experiment plots of a large grassland biodiversity experiment (the Jena Experiment; see further details below). In the Main Experiment, 82 grassland plots of 20 x 20 m were established from a pool of 60 species belonging to four functional groups (grasses, legumes, tall and small herbs). In May 2002, varying numbers of plant species from this species pool were sown in the plots to create a gradient of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 species) and functional richness (1, 2, 3, or 4 functional groups). Plots were maintained by bi-annual weeding and mowing. Ants where sampled in 80 plots of the Main Experiment using baited traps end of July/ beginning of August 2013. Sampling took place 36 days after the end of a major flooding of the field site that lasted for several weeks (see DOI flood descriptor). In each plot two petri dishes were set on the ground, one received ~10g of Tuna the other ~10g of Honey. After 30min the occurrence (presence = 1 / absence = 0) and abundance (number) of ants at the two baits was recorded. Given is, per plot, the sum of ants attracted to the two different baits.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the R/V Argo ZETES Expedition in the Pacific Ocean

The cores and dredges described are taken during the R/V Argo ZETES Expedition from March until August 1966 by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. A total of 53 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at Scripps Institute of Oceanography for sampling and study.