(Table 1) Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios of tree rings, and tree ring width of white spruce (Picea glauca), Ennadai Lake

Stable isotope ratios from tree rings and peatland mosses have become important proxies of past climate variations. We here compare recent stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in cellulose of tree rings from white spruce (Picea glauca), growing near the arctic tree line; and cellulose of Sphagnum fuscum stems, growing in a hummock of a subarctic peatland, in west-central Canada. Results show that carbon isotopes in S. fuscum correlate significantly with July temperatures over the past ~20 yr. The oxygen isotopes correlate with both summer temperature and precipitation. Analyses of the tree-ring isotopes revealed summer temperatures to be the main controlling factor for carbon isotope variations, whereas tree-ring oxygen isotope ratios are controlled by a combination of spring temperatures and precipitation totals. We also explore the potential of combining high-frequency (annual) climate signals derived from long tree-ring series with low-frequency (decadal to centennial) climate signals derived from the moss remains in peat deposits. This cross-archive comparison revealed no association between the oxygen isotopes, which likely results from the varying sensitivity of the archives to different seasons. For the carbon isotopes, common variance could be achieved through adjustments of the Sphagnum age model within dating error.

Environmental context of selected samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013)

The present data set provides contextual environmental data for samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013) that were selected for publication in a special issue of the SCIENCE journal (see related references below). The data set provides calculated averages of mesaurements made at the sampling location and depth, calculated averages from climatologies (AMODIS, VGPM) and satellite products.

Registry of selected samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013)

The present data set is a registry of samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013) that were selected for publication in a special issue of the SCIENCE journal (see related references below). The registry provides details about the sampling location and methodology of each sample. Uniform resource locators (URLs) offer direct links to additional contextual environmental data and to the corresponding sequence runs used for analysis in the related literature publications in the SCIENCE journal.

Biodiversity context of selected samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013)

The present data set provides contextual data for samples from the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013) that were selected for publication in a special issue of the SCIENCE journal (see related references below). Contextual data include various diversity indexes calculated for the sampling location using satellite and model climatologies (Darwin project, Physat) and results from the sequencing of Tara Oceans samples.

Planktic foraminifera isotopes, temperature and d18O of seawater at the central Walvis Ridge for Termination II (MIS 6 to 5), sediment core 64PE-174P13

Salty and warm Indian Ocean waters enter the South Atlantic via the Agulhas leakage, south of Africa. Model simulations and proxy evidence of Agulhas leakage strengthening during glacial terminations led to the hypothesis that it was an important modulator of the Atlantic Ocean circulation. Yet, the fate of the leakage salinity and temperature anomalies remains undocumented beyond the southern tip of Africa. Downstream of the leakage, new paleoceanographic evidence from the central Walvis Ridge (southeast Atlantic) shows that salinity increased at the thermocline, and less so at the surface, during glacial termination II. Thermocline salinity change coincided with higher frequency of Agulhas rings passage at the core location and with salinity maxima in the Agulhas leakage area, suggesting that leakage waters were incorporated in the Atlantic circulation through the thermocline. Hydrographic changes at the Walvis Ridge and in the leakage area display a distinct two-step structure, with a reversal at ca. 134 ka. This matched a wet interlude within the East Asia weak monsoon interval of termination II, and a short-lived North Atlantic warming. Such concurrence points to a Bølling-Allerød-like recovery of the Atlantic circulation amidst termination II, with a northward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Southern Hemisphere westerlies, and attendant curtailment of the interocean connection south of Africa.

Tree ring record from a Redwood

The permanent exhibition of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Schloss Rosenstein, contains the cross section of a California coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) from Humboldt County, California, felled in 1966 reveals 1285 annual tree-rings. The measured thicknesses of tree-rings comprise a time series with distinct thickness variations, which are the expression of changing environmental conditions such as precipitation and fog. These factors are controlled by nearby coastal upwelling, which is again influenced by El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and which in turn can be influenced by variations of solar radiance. In fact, the tree-ring time series comprises evidence for three orders of solar cycles that may have indirectly controlled tree growth: Hale cycle (21.9 yr), Gleissberg cycle (88.6 yr) and De Vries cycle (209.8 yr). These interpretations should, however, be treated with caution, because it is the only cross section known and the acquirement of reliable data requires cross dating of several sections. (was: The cross section of a California coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) felled in 1966 reveals 1285 annual tree-rings. The measured thicknesses of tree-rings comprise a time series with distinct thickness variations, which are the expression of changing environmental conditions such as precipitation and fog. These factors are controlled by nearby coastal upwelling, which is again influenced by El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and which in turn can be influenced by variations of solar radiance. In fact, the tree-ring time series comprises evidence for three orders of solar cycles that may have indirectly controlled tree growth: Hale cycle (21.9 yr), Gleissberg cycle (88.6 yr) and De Vries cycle (209.8 yr).

Age determination of the rhyolites of the Lord Howe Rise in the Southwest Pacific Ocean

Drilling at site 207 (DSDP Leg 21), located on the broad summit of the Lord Howe Rise, bottomed in rhyolitic rocks. Sanidine concentrates from four samples of the rhyolite were dated by the 40Ar/39Ar total fusion method and conventional K-Ar method, and yielded concordant ages of 93.7 +/- 1.1 my, equivalent to the early part of the Upper Cretaceous. At this time the Lord Howe Rise, which has continental-type structure, is thought to have been emergent and adjacent to the eastern margin of the Australian-antarctic continent. Subsequent to 94 my ago and prior to deposition of Maastrichtian (70-65 myBP) marine sediments on top of the rhyolitic basement of the Lord Howe Rise, rifting occurred and the formation of the Tasman Basin began by sea-floor spreading with rotation of the Rise away from the margin of Australia. Subsidence of the Rise continued until Early Eocene (about 50 myBP), probably marking the end of sea-floor spreading in the Tasman Basin. These large scale movements relate to the breakup of this part of Gondwanaland in the Upper Cretaceous.

Observation of manganese deposits made during the 1936 transect of C/S Lord Kelvin through the Northern Atlantic Ocean

In May and June 1936 Dr. C. S. Piggot of the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, took a series of 11 deep-sea cores in the North Atlantic Ocean between the Newfoundland banks and the banks off the Irish coast. These cores were taken from the Western Union Telegraph Co.'s cable ship Lord Kelvin with the explosive type of sounding device which Dr. Piggot designed. All but two of these cores (Nos. 8 and 11) are more than 2.43 meters (8 feet) long, and all contain ample material for study. Of the two short cores, No. 8 was taken from the top of the Faraday Hills, as that part of the mid-Atlantic ridge is known, where the material is closely packed and more sandy and consequently more resistant; No. 11 came from a locality where the apparatus apparently landed on volcanic rock that may be part of a submarine lava flow.