Compilation of Mg/Ca ratios of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) and SST estimates from the northern North Atlantic

A map of estimated calcification temperatures of the planktic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral (TNps) for the Nordic Seas and the northern North Atlantic for the Last Glacial Maximum was produced from oxygen isotopes with support of Mg/Ca ratios. To arrive at the reconstruction, several constraints concerning the plausible salinity and ?18O-fields were employed. The reconstruction indicates inflow of temperate waters in a wedge along the eastern border of the Nordic Seas and at least seasonally ice-free waters. The reconstruction from oxygen isotopes shows similarities with Mg/Ca based paleotemperatures in the southern and southeastern sector, while unrealistically high Mg/Ca values in the central Nordic Seas prevent the application of the method in this area. The oxygen isotope based reconstruction shows some agreement with temperature reconstructions based on the modern analogue technique, but with somewhat lower temperatures and a stronger internal gradient inside the Nordic Seas. All told, our results suggest a much more ice-free and dynamic high latitude ocean than the CLIMAP reconstruction.

Global compilation of benthic data sets I

Approaches to quantify the organic carbon accumulation on a global scale generally do not consider the small-scale variability of sedimentary and oceanographic boundary conditions along continental margins. In this study, we present a new approach to regionalize the total organic carbon (TOC) content in surface sediments (<5 cm sediment depth). It is based on a compilation of more than 5500 single measurements from various sources. Global TOC distribution was determined by the application of a combined qualitative and quantitative-geostatistical method. Overall, 33 benthic TOC-based provinces were defined and used to process the global distribution pattern of the TOC content in surface sediments in a 1°x1° grid resolution. Regional dependencies of data points within each single province are expressed by modeled semi-variograms. Measured and estimated TOC values show good correlation, emphasizing the reasonable applicability of the method. The accumulation of organic carbon in marine surface sediments is a key parameter in the control of mineralization processes and the material exchange between the sediment and the ocean water. Our approach will help to improve global budgets of nutrient and carbon cycles.

Database of the GLAMAP project

A uniform chronology for foraminifera-based sea surface temperature records has been established in more than 120 sediment cores obtained from the equatorial and eastern Atlantic up to the Arctic Ocean. The chronostratigraphy of the last 30,000 years is mainly based on published d18O records and 14C ages from accelerator mass spectrometry, converted into calendar-year ages. The high-precision age control provides the database necessary for the uniform reconstruction of the climate interval of the Last Glacial Maximum within the GLAMAP-2000 project.

Glacial North Atlantic: Sea surface conditions reconstructed by GLAMAP 2000

The response of the tropical ocean to global climate change and the extent of sea ice in the glacial nordic seas belong to the great controversies in paleoclimatology. Our new reconstruction of peak glacial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Atlantic is based on census counts of planktic foraminifera, using the Maximum Similarity Technique Version 28 (SIMMAX-28) modern analog technique with 947 modern analog samples and 119 well-dated sediment cores. Our study compares two slightly different scenarios of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Environmental Processes of the Ice Age: Land, Oceans, Glaciers (EPILOG), and Glacial Atlantic Ocean Mapping (GLAMAP 2000) time slices. The comparison shows that the maximum LGM cooling in the Southern Hemisphere slightly preceeded that in the north. In both time slices sea ice was restricted to the north western margin of the nordic seas during glacial northern summer, while the central and eastern parts were ice-free. During northern glacial winter, sea ice advanced to the south of Iceland and Faeroe. In the central northern North Atlantic an anticyclonic gyre formed between 45° and 60°N, with a cool water mass centered west of Ireland, where glacial cooling reached a maximum of >12°C. In the subtropical ocean gyres the new reconstruction supports the glacial-to-interglacial stability of SST as shown by CLIMAP Project Members (CLIMAP) [1981]. The zonal belt of minimum SST seasonality between 2° and 6°N suggests that the LGM caloric equator occupied the same latitude as today. In contrast to the CLIMAP reconstruction, the glacial cooling of the tropical east Atlantic upwelling belt reached up to 6°-8°C during Northern Hemisphere summer. Differences between these SIMMAX-based and published U37[k]- and Mg/Ca-based equatorial SST records are ascribed to strong SST seasonalities and SST signals that were produced by different planktic species groups during different seasons.

Compilation of 220 sediment core d13C data from the glacial Atlantic Ocean

We compare a compilation of 220 sediment core d13C data from the glacial Atlantic Ocean with three-dimensional ocean circulation simulations including a marine carbon cycle model. The carbon cycle model employs circulation fields which were derived from previous climate simulations. All sediment data have been thoroughly quality controlled, focusing on epibenthic foraminiferal species (such as Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi or Planulina ariminensis) to improve the comparability of model and sediment core carbon isotopes. The model captures the general d13C pattern indicated by present-day water column data and Late Holocene sediment cores but underestimates intermediate and deep water values in the South Atlantic. The best agreement with glacial reconstructions is obtained for a model scenario with an altered freshwater balance in the Southern Ocean that mimics enhanced northward sea ice export and melting away from the zone of sea ice production. This results in a shoaled and weakened North Atlantic Deep Water flow and intensified Antarctic Bottom Water export, hence confirming previous reconstructions from paleoproxy records. Moreover, the modeled abyssal ocean is very cold and very saline, which is in line with other proxy data evidence.

Sr/Ca and Cd/Ca ratios of benthic foraminifera in surface deep-sea sediments

Measurements of Sr/Ca of benthic foraminifera show a linear decrease with water depth which is superimposed upon significant variability identified by analyses of individual foraminifera. New data for Cd/Ca support previous work in defining a contrast between waters shallower and deeper than ~2500 m. Measured element partition coefficients in foraminiferal calcium carbonate relative to sea water (D) have been described by means of a one-box model in which elements are extracted by Rayleigh distillation from a biomineralization reservoir that serves for calcification with a constant fractionation factor (alpha), such that D = (1 - f**alpha)/(l - f), where f is the proportion of Ca remaining after precipitation. A modification to the model recognises differences in element speciation. The model is consistent with differences between D[Sr], D[Ba], and D[Cd] in benthic but not planktonic foraminifera. Depth variations in D for Sr and Ba are consistent with the model, as are differences in depth variation of D[Cd] in calcitic and aragonitic benthic foraminifera. The shallower depth variations may reflect increasing calcification rates with increasing water depth to an optimum of about 2500 m. Observations of unusually lower DCd for some deep waters, not accompanied by similar [Sr], or D[Ba] may be because of dissolution or a calcification response to a lower carbonate saturation state.