Age determination and Sea surface temperature reconstruction for sediment core H214

We present sea surface temperature (SST) records with centennial-scale resolution from the Bay of Plenty, north of New Zealand. Foraminiferal assemblage-based paleo-SST estimates provide a deglacial record of SST since 16.5 14C ka. Average Holocene SSTs are 15.6°C for winter and 20.3°C for summer, whereas average glacial values were 14.2°C for winter and 19.5°C for summer. Compared to modern time, cooling of SSTs at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was ~0.9°C in winter and ~1.5°C in summer. The shift from glacial to Holocene temperatures began at 14.25 14C ka, warming by ~2°C until 12.85 14C ka when temperatures dipped back to glacial values at 11.65 14C ka. The timing of this return to glacial-like SST correlates well with the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR) rather than the Younger Dryas and documents that the influence of the ACR extended into the subtropics of the Southern Hemisphere, at least in this region of the southwest Pacific. By 10.55 14C ka an SST maximum in summer SSTs of up to 3°C warmer than modern occurred (?24°C), after which SST dropped, remaining at present-day temperatures since 9.3 14C ka. This early Holocene climatic optimum has been widely noted in the Southern Ocean, and this record indicates that this phenomenon also extended into the subtropics to the north of New Zealand.

Sea surface temperature (Mg/Ca) from ODP Hole 161-977A

Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and stable isotope measurements have been performed on tests from the planktonic foraminifers Globigerinoides ruber (white), Globigerina bulloides, and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (right coiling) in samples from Ocean Drilling Program site 977A in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean). The evolution of different water masses between 250 and 150 ka is described. Warm substages were characterized by strong seasonality and thermal stratification of the water column. By contrast, less pronounced seasonality and basin stratification seem to prevail during cold substages. Several periods of stratification due to the low salinity of the upper water mass occurred during the formation of organic-rich layers and also during a possible Heinrich-like event at 220 ka. The three foraminifer species studied show a common and large shell Sr/Ca variability in short timescales, suggesting changes in the global ocean Sr/Ca ratio as one of the main causes of variations in shell composition.

Sea surface temperature reconstructions of sediment cores from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean

Late Quaternary summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have been derived from radiolarian assemblages in the East Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. In the subantarctic and the polar frontal zone, glacial SSTs (oxygen isotope stages 2, 4, 6, and 8) were 3°-5°C cooler than today, indicating northward displacements of the isotherms about 2°-4° of latitudes. During interglacials, SSTs almost reached modern levels (oxygen isotope stages 7 and 9) or exceeded them by 2°-3°C (oxygen isotope stages 1 and 5.5). In the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean, changes in SST and calcium carbonate content of the sediment precede variations in global ice volume in the range of the main Milankovitch frequencies. Comparisons with the timing of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) proxy records suggests that this early response in the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean is not triggered by the flux of NADW to the Southern Ocean.

Sea-surface temperature reconstruction for sediment core GIK18287-3 in the tropical South China Sea

The timing and magnitude of sea-surface temperature (SST) changes in the tropical southern South China Sea (SCS) during the last 16,500 years have been reconstructed on a high-resolution, 14C-dated sediment core using three different foraminiferal transfer functions (SIMMAX28, RAM, FP-12E) and geochemical (Uk'37) SST estimates. In agreement with CLIMAP reconstructions, both the FP-12E and the Uk'37 SST estimates show an average late glacial-interglacial SST difference of 2.0°C, whereas the RAM and SIMMAX28 foraminiferal transfer functions show only a minor (0.6°C) or no consistent late glacial-interglacial SST change, respectively. Both the Uk'37 and the FP-12E SST estimates, as well as the planktonic foraminiferal delta18O values, indicate an abrupt warming (ca. 1°C in <200 yr) at the end of the last glaciation, synchronous (within dating uncertainties) with the Bølling transition as recorded in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core, whereas the RAM-derived deglacial SST increase appears to lag during this event by ca. 500 yr. The similarity in abruptness and timing of the warming associated with the Bølling transition in Greenland and the southern SCS suggest a true synchrony of the Northern Hemisphere warming at the end of the last glaciation. In contrast to the foraminiferal transfer function estimates that do not indicate any consistent cooling associated with the Younger Dryas (YD) climate event in the tropical SCS, the Uk'37 SST estimates show a cooling of ca. 0.2-0.6°C compared to the Bølling-Allerød period. These Uk'37 SST estimates from the southern SCS argue in favor of a Northern Hemisphere-wide, synchronous cooling during the YD period.

Sea surface temperature reconstruction of a combined sediment record of the midlatitude North Pacific

Suborbital climate variability during the last glacial period is suggested to have involved a 1500-year pacing cycle, but the expression and spatial distribution of the ~1500-year oscillation during interglacials remains unclear. We generated a multidecade resolution record of alkenone sea surface temperature (SST) in the northwestern Pacific off central Japan during the Holocene. The SST record showed centennial and millennial variability with an amplitude of ~1 °C throughout the entire Holocene. Spectral analysis for SST variation revealed a statistically significant peak with 1470-year periodicity. The SST variation partly correlated with the variations of ice-rafted hematite-stained grain content in North Atlantic sediments. These findings indicate that the mean latitude of the Kuroshio Extension has varied on a 1500-year cycle, and suggest that a climatic link exists between the North Pacific gyre system and the high-latitude North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. The regular pacing at 1500-year intervals seen throughout both the Holocene and the last glacial period suggests that the oscillation was a response to external forcing.

Sea surface temperature calculated from UK37 and UK'37 in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean

In spite of the important role played by the Southern Ocean in global climate, the few existing paleoceanographic records in the east Pacific sector do not extend beyond one glacial-interglacial cycle, hindering circumpolar comparison of past sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Southern Ocean. Here we present three alkenone-based Pleistocene SST records from the subantarctic and subtropical Pacific. We use a regional core top calibration data set to constrain the choice of calibrations for paleo SST estimation. Our core top data confirm that the alkenone-based UK37 and UK'37 values correlate linearly with the SST, in a similar fashion as the most commonly used laboratory culture-based calibrations even at low temperatures (down to ~1°C), rendering these calibrations appropriate for application in the subantarctic Pacific. However, these alkenone indices yield diverging temporal trends in the Pleistocene SST records. On the basis of the better agreement with d18O records and other SST records in the subantarctic Southern Ocean, we propose that the UK37 is a better index for SST reconstruction in this region than the more commonly used UK'37 index. The UK37-derived SST records suggest glacial cooling of ~8°C and ~4°C in the subantarctic and subtropical Pacific, respectively. Such extent of subantarctic glacial cooling is comparable to that in other sectors of the Southern Ocean, indicating a uniform circumpolar cooling during the Pleistocene. Furthermore, our SST records also imply massive equatorward migrations of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) frontal systems and an enhanced transport of ACC water to lower latitudes during glacials by the Peru-Chile Current.

Late Pliocene sea-surface temperature record of DSDP Hole 80-548 from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (Table 1)

Application of quantitative micropaleontologic methods of sea-surface temperature (SST) estimation to the planktic foraminiferal faunas at Hole 548 in the northeast Atlantic between 3.5 and 2.0 Ma provide a detailed record of Pliocene surface temperature changes during the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation. SST estimates indicate a relatively warm interval of "enhanced interglacials (warm peaks)" between 3.2 and 2.8 Ma followed by steady cooling with a significant step-like change toward colder temperatures occurring about 2.4 Ma. This record compares well with faunal and SST records from other North Atlantic sites.