variations of biogenic particle flux in the southern atlantic section of the subantarctic zone during the late quaternary evidence from sedimentary and variations of intensity and composition of biogenic particle flux at the northern boundary of the present polarfrontal zone in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean are indicators of major changes of paleoenvironmentalconditions on glacial interglacial time scales during the late quaternary in order to estimate those pastchanges sediment accumulation patterns of two piston cores one from just north and one just south of thepresent day position of the subantarctic front were reconstructed using the 230thex method large contributionsof laterally supplied material were quantified and used to correct sediment accumulation rates during the lastglacial focussing of biogenic opal dominated material exceeded the original contribution from the surfacewater above by a maximum factor of 8 7 the initial activity ratio of 231paex 230thex was used as tracer forbiogenic particle flux and composition and indicates that during the glacial stages 2 and 4 the area of high opalproductivity was situated above the location of the southern core whereas the northern core has not beenreached by this northward shift during the last 130 kyr as shown by the pattern of focussing corrected bulkaccumulation rates if the position of the antarctic polar front has remained at the northern boundary of thehigh opal productivity area during the last 130 kyr the results suggest that was located exactly between thetwo core sites during glacial stages 2 and 4 a two box modeling approach involving particle flux and boundaryscavenging intensity of 231pa was applied to estimate the possible range of the 231paex 230thex ratio recordedin southern ocean sediments previous estimates on the export of 231pa from the atlantic into the southernocean are corroborated but the model suggests a low sensitivity of the 231paex 230thex ratio in southern oceansediments to variations of the residence time of north atlantic deep water in the atlantic ocean

sedimentation of 13c rich organic matter from antarctic sea ice algae a potential indicator of past sea ice extent organic matter collected in sediment traps at a nearshore marine site in prydz bay east antarctica displayed a pronounced seasonal variation in carbon isotopes expressed as 13 c om winter values were fairly constant near 20 before increasing to above 15 in response to inputs from sea ice algae in early spring particulate organic matter obtained directly from sea ice cores exhibited very high 13 c om values typically 15 but as much as 8 much above the values of organic matter suspended in the water column below the sea ice the sea ice algae contributed 20 of the annual flux of organic matter and the 13 c om measurements from a sediment core at the site suggest that this value is representative of the recent past all of these carbon isotopic compositions are considerably above the extremely 13 c depleted compositions generally 25 to 30 that have been found in many other antarctic and southern ocean studies the elevated 13 c om values derive from considerable depletion of dissolved carbon dioxide and nutrients within the sea ice and to a lesser extent within stratified surface waters induced by melting sea ice thus elevated 13 c om values in southern ocean sediment cores may indicate the presence of sea ice hosted algae rather than temperature or surface co 2 pressure p co 2 variations

flow and solute transport through the soil matrix and macropores of a hillslope segment subsurface flow from various portions of a soil profile on a steep forested hillslope was evaluated by two sets of step change miscible displacement tests at different application rates and antecedent hydrologic conditions solutions of nacl 1000 mg l 1 cl were applied at steady state rates equivalent to 20 and 30 mm h 1 of standing water over the entire plot area using a line irrigation source located 1 5 m upslope lateral distance from an excavated soil pit subsurface flow and tracer breakthrough from five portions the organic rich soil layer including macropores the mineral soil matrix and three groups of macropores in the mineral soil layer of the soil profile were individually measured and analyzed using a convective dispersive model matrix flow dominated discharge from the soil pit during tracer tests 70 93 of total discharge however during wet periods with upslope drainage macropores including organic rich soil contributed proportionally more flow than during periods when upslope drainage was minimal outflow from macropores during the test with wet antecedent conditions had lower cl concentrations than drainage from the soil matrix suggesting dilution in macropores from upslope drainage effective pore volumes calculated for the flow averaged breakthrough data from the entire profile were much less 40 than the estimates measured by tensiometers of total volume of pore water suggesting that preferential flow significantly contributed to subsurface transport of tracer the pore volume for the entire profile increased only slightly with increasing application rate however the relative proportions of pore volumes calculated for individual portions varied proportionally to antecedent hydrologic conditions these changes are attributed to the expansion of individual macropores with surrounding soil and the lateral extension of macropore networks during wetter conditions

late quaternary variations in sea surface temperatures and their relationship to orbital forcing recorded in the southern ocean atlantic sector 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

late quaternary sediment dating and quantification of lateral sediment redistribution applying230thex a study from the eastern atlantic sector of the southern ocean high resolution records of the natural radionuclide230th were measured in sediments from the eastern atlantic sector of the antarctic circumpolar current to obtain a detailed reconstruction of the sedimentation history of this key area for global climate change during the late quaternary high resolution dating rests on the assumption that the230thex flux to the sediments is constant short periods of drastically increased sediment accumulation rates up to a factor of 8 were determined in the sediments of the antarctic zone during the climate optima at the beginning of the holocene and the isotope stage 5e by comparing expected and measured accumulation rate of230thex lateral sediment redistribution was quantified and vertical particle rain rates originating from the surface water above were calculated we show that lateral contributions locally were up to 6 5 times higher than the vertical particle rain rates at other locations only 15 of the expected vertical particle rain rate were deposited

on the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 1 linear responses to milankovitch forcing time series of ocean properties provide a measure of global ice volume and monitor key features of the wind driven and density driven circulations over the past 400 000 years cycles with periods near 23 000 41 000 and 100 000 years dominate this climatic narrative when the narrative is examined in a geographic array of time series the phase of each climatic oscillation is seen to progress through the system in essentially the same geographic sequence in all three cycles we argue that the 23 000 and 41 000 year cycles of glaciation are continuous linear responses to orbitally driven changes in the arctic radiation budget and we use the phase progression in each climatic cycle to identify the main pathways along which the initial local responses to radiation are propagated by the atmosphere and ocean early in this progression deep waters of the southern ocean appear to act as a carbon trap to stimulate new observations and modeling efforts we offer a process model that gives a synoptic view of climate at the four end member states needed to describe the system s evolution and we propose a dynamic system model that explains the phase progression along causal pathways by specifying inertial constants in a chain of four subsystems solutions to problems involving systems of such complexity are not born full grown like athena from the head of zeus rather they evolve slowly in stages each of which requires a pause to examine data at great lengths in order to guarantee a sure footing and to properly choose the next step victor p starr

modern distribution of diatoms in sediments from the george v coast antarctica abstract currently little information exists concerning high frequency climate change in the antarctic data that are essential to gaining a more complete understanding of global climate change sediments from the george v coast continental margin potentially contain a high resolution record of the late holocene the relatively high rate of sedimentation 3 mm year and the presence of laminated intervals which contain undisturbed sequences make these sediments valuable for future downcore work in order to utilize diatom assemblages as proxies of paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic parameters a preliminary study of the surface sediment distribution of diatoms from the george v coast continental margin was completed nitzschia curta van heurck hasle and nitzschia kerguelensis o meara hasle present great potential for tracking the holocene retreat of ice across the continental shelf of this region concentrations of n curta an ice related form decreases in an offshore direction whereas n kerguelensis an oceanic species associated with circumpolar flow displays an increase in sediments offshore the genus thalassiosira cleve displays a clear association with areas of open water primary production as has been noted in others parts of the antarctic downcore variability in relative abundance of this genus will be useful in understanding the history of sea ice versus open water production on the george v coast shelf in contrast the distribution of chaetoceros ehrenberg resting spores appears to be more complex but may be related to the position of the stationary ice edge associated with the annual minimal extent of sea ice finally an understanding of the downcore variability of thalassiothrix antarctica schimper ex karsten a species which is very abundant in the laminated sections of the sediment cores will have to rely on studies of its distribution in other areas of the antarctic as it is sparsely distributed along the george v coast today

reappraisal of sea ice distribution in atlantic and pacific sectors of the southern ocean at 18 000 yr bp the question of the distribution of winter and summer sea ice cover during the last glacial maximum 18 000 yr bp is important in climatic modelling of the glacial world we have now compared satellite derived 5 yr monthly averages of per cent summer sea ice cover in the atlantic and pacific sectors of the southern ocean with the distribution of reported sedimentological indicators of sea ice cover at the sediment water interface these data strongly suggest that sediment type cannot be used to identify summer sea ice limits neither in recent sediments nor in sediments of the last glacial maximum rather the data seem to indicate that sediment type can be used to identify spring sea ice limits for these two time intervals

diatom distribution and paleoceanographic reconstruction in the southern ocean present and last glacial maximum abstract diatom assemblage and preservational data are used to reconstruct paleoceanographic conditions at the last glacial maximum 18 000 yrs bp in the southern ocean from these data the following points can be made about the last glacial maximum in this region 1 contraction and slight northern shift of the belt of well preserved diatoms appears to be related to the northward shift of late spring early summer sea ice cover 2 presence of open ocean though poorly preserved diatom assemblages to the south of this belt strongly suggest that during many summers large areas of the southern ocean were ice free 3 the distribution of thenitzschia kerguelensis factor both in surface sediments and at the last glacial maximum indicates that the gyre systems particularly the weddell gyre were intensified during glacial times 4 although data are sparse in the higher latitude south atlantic there is an indication that the weddell polynya also existed during glacial times although it was shifted a few degrees northward

diatom evidence for late holocene climatic events in granite harbor antarctica downcore diatom data from a deep basin in granite harbor antarctica provide new high resolution information concerning changes in oceanographic and depositional processes that have occurred during approximately the last 1250 years the influence of global scale climatic change during the time of the medieval warm period and possibly the little ice age is revealed by long term changes in floral assemblages as recorded by changes in the relative concentration of nitzschia cylindrus the diatom data suggest that granite harbor experienced less annual ice and pack ice cover during both these periods possibly because of higher temperatures during the medieval warm period and stronger offshore winds during the little ice age the sedimentary record reveals several distinct short lived events in which nearly monospecific blooms of corethron criophilum and chaetoceros spp occurred possibly the result of strong stabilization of the upper water column and were most likely a response to regional rather than global conditions although short lived these events may play a significant role in the delivery of organic carbon and biogenic silica to the seafloor

the southern ocean surface between marine isotope stages 6 and 5d shape and timing of climate changes summer sea surface temperature ssst and sea ice extent obtained at millennial to centennial resolution are presented for seven cores recovered in the atlantic and western indian antarctic zone from termination ii and the last interglacial s s i e marine isotope substage mis 5e the diatom based ssst estimates show that during the late mis 6 intensified export of cold waters from the weddell sea resulted in sssts close to 0 c in the central and eastern atlantic sector due to northward expansion of the winter sea ice edge by 3 5 latitude the sea ice seasonality was reduced such conditions have great potential for efficient year round reduction in air sea gas exchange and glacial co2 draw down the warming at termination ii started at 132 131 ka marked by rapid retreat of the sea ice edge the ssst increased within a few thousands of years to reach maximum interglacial summer temperatures ranging between 2 5 and 3 5 c in the earliest mis 5e 128 125 ka besides a distinct cold reversal around 129 5 ka the warming was punctuated by short lived temperature rebounds with amplitudes of 1 1 5 c occurring at 200 300 yr frequency thus in the range of the periodicity of solar input increased chaetoceros spp abundance suggests meltwater events as the primary cause of the coolings the ssst optimum characterised by strongly enhanced biogenic sedimentation rates ended at ca 125 ka with the full re establishment of the global conveyor belt and beginning of the northern hemisphere climatic optimum at this time sssts decreased stepwise and stabilised on values slightly warmer than today showing in the following period of mis 5e only low amplitude oscillations during mis 5d a northward expansion of the sea ice field took place but sssts only slightly colder than modern ones and a weakened meridional temperature gradient indicate that the southern ocean did not fall in a true glacial mode the tight correlation between southern ocean ssst and winter sea ice records and vostok atmospheric temperature and co2 records support the idea that the antarctic winter sea ice and southern ocean temperature exert a primary control on the atmospheric ocean co2 exchanges and hence on global climate reduction of the antarctic sea ice field and increase of ssst at the onset of termination ii could have been triggered by precessional changes influencing southern high latitude summer insolation positive feedback mechanisms reduction of surface albedo and release of co2 into the atmosphere and changes in global ocean circulation affected by a collapse or strong reduction in north atlantic deep water nadw production could have induced further reinforcement of the southern ocean warming

reappraisal of antarctic seasonal sea ice at the last glacial maximum we used modern analog technique applied to antarctic diatoms to quantitatively reconstruct seasonal sea ice extent at the last glacial maximum winter maximum sea ice limit occurred around 48 s in the atlantic and western indian sectors around 55 s in the eastern indian and western pacific sectors and around 58 60 s in the eastern pacific sector of the southern ocean summer maximum sea ice extents during the last ice age and today are similar which contradicts climap s findings this implies a reduced summer albedo feedback of the southern hemisphere and a greater transfer of heat and moisture from the ocean to the atmosphere than shown by previous qualitative studies

diatom distribution in southern ocean surface sediments atlantic sector implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions abstract a study of 230 surface sediment samples collected in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean between the southernmost weddell sea and the subtropical zone documents the modern distribution of diatoms revealing patterns of paleoenvironmental significance estimations of diatom valves per gram dry sediment display numbers of 50 200 106 in the zone of high opal burial located between the mean position of the winter sea ice edge and the polar front and maximum values of greater than 200 106 in the near shore sedimentary basins off the antarctic peninsula lowest diatom concentrations and assemblages strongly affected by dissolution were encountered in the weddell basin despite alteration of the diatom assemblages prior to their incorporation into the sediment record the biogeographic distribution and the abundance pattern of most of the 35 studied diatom species shows a close relationship with the surface hydrography water temperature these relationships can be used to estimate past surface water temperatures based on statistical treatments of the assemblages or on simple relations of species occurrences in the geological record another close link occurs between the distribution of sea ice and sea ice related diatoms

antarctic sea ice relationships with indices of the atmospheric circulation of the southern hemisphere a link between the antarctic sea ice extent and low frequency atmospheric variations particularly enso has been suggested by recent modeling and empirical studies this question is examined here using a high resolution by week by region data base of antarctic sea ice extent for the 1973 1982 period although of relatively short duration by northern hemisphere standards such a data base offers an opportunity rare in southern hemisphere climate studies the seaice variations are examined in the context of longer term indices of the large scale atmospheric circulation these are a southern oscillation index soi and an index of sea level pressure slp wavenumber one in the southern hemisphere extratropics the indices are updated through 1982 and their associations with regional scale pressure indices in the australia new zealand sector are also examined the 1973 1982 period is anomalous when compared with the period 1951 1972 correlation analysis of the monthly sea ice and circulation index values reveals that much of the apparent link between the ice and the soi suggested in previous studies arises from autocorrelations present in both data sets and the strong annual cycle of sea ice extent removing these effects from the data and re running the correlations reveals that most of the resulting significant associations between the ice and one or other of the circulation indices can probably be explained on the basis of chance in order to reconcile these findings with previous studies that show some strong ice circulation interactions on regional scales only those months in which significant correlations occur between both largescale circulation indices and the sea ice are examined further these occur preferentially in the ross and weddell sectors which constitute the regions contributing most to the variability of antarctic sea ice the analysis suggests that the sea ice extent changes lag the soi by several months but may precede changes in extratropical slp wavenumber one confirmation of these tentative regional ice extent circulation teleconnections necessarily awaits the forward extension of the high resolution sea ice data base beyond the 10 years available here

new tools for the reconstruction of pleistocene antarctic sea ice abstract based on the quantitative analysis of diatom assemblages preserved in 274 surface sediment samples recovered in the pacific atlantic and western indian sectors of the southern ocean we have defined a new reference database for quantitative estimation of late middle pleistocene antarctic sea ice fields using the transfer function technique the detrended canonical analysis dca of the diatom data set points to a unimodal distribution of the diatom assemblages canonical correspondence analysis cca indicates that not only winter sea ice wsi but also summer sea surface temperature ssst represent the most prominent environmental variables that control the spatial species distribution to test the applicability of transfer functions for sea ice reconstruction in terms of concentration and occurrence probability we applied four different methods the imbrie and kipp method ikm the modern analog technique mat weighted averaging wa and weighted averaging partial least squares wapls using logarithm transformed diatom data and satellite derived 1981 2010 sea ice data as a reference the best performance for ikm results was obtained using a subset of 172 samples with 28 diatom taxa taxa groups quadratic regression and a three factor model ikm d172 28 3q resulting in root mean square errors of prediction rmsep of 7 27 and 11 4 for wsi and summer sea ice ssi concentration respectively mat estimates were calculated with different numbers of analogs 4 6 using a 274 sample 28 taxa reference data set mat d274 28 4an 6an resulting in rmsep ranging from 5 52 4an to 5 91 6an for wsi as well as 8 93 4an to 9 05 6an for ssi wa and wapls performed less well with the d274 data set compared to mat achieving wsi concentration rmsep of 9 91 with wa and 11 29 with wapls recommending the use of ikm and mat the application of ikm and mat to surface sediment data revealed strong relations to the satellite derived winter and summer sea ice field sea ice reconstructions performed on an atlantic and a pacific southern ocean sediment core both documenting sea ice variability over the past 150 000 yr mis 1 mis 6 resulted in similar glacial interglacial trends of ikm and mat based sea ice estimates on the average however ikm estimates display smaller wsi and slightly higher ssi concentration and probability at lower variability in comparison with mat this pattern is a result of different estimation techniques with integration of wsi and ssi signals in one single factor assemblage by applying ikm and selecting specific single samples thus keeping close to the original diatom database and included variability by mat in contrast to the estimation of wsi reconstructions of past ssi variability remain weaker combined with diatom based estimates the abundance and flux pattern of biogenic opal represents an additional indication for the wsi and ssi extent

palaeoceanographic reconstruction of surface ocean changes in the southern norwegian sea for the last 130 000 years based on diatoms and with comparison to foraminiferal records abstract fossil marine diatom assemblages in a sediment core from the central northern faroe slope in the norwegian sea were used to reconstruct palaeoceanographic changes in the surface water mixed layer from the last 130 000 years marine isotope stage mis 6 5 transition to mis 1 including the eemian and holocene interglacials and to compare the results with previously published results on planktic foraminifera representing the subsurface conditions of the thermocline diatom floras from mis 5 of the nordic seas have rarely been studied in detail before and never the entire period from pre eemian to present the composition of diatom species together with maxima in absolute abundance of diatoms indicate two periods of warmer sea surface temperatures correlating with the eemian and holocene interglacials respectively the eemian differs from the holocene in that the iceland faroe front never developed suggesting the cold east icelandic current originating from the east greenland current running north of iceland was reduced or more mixed with atlantic water than during the holocene and that the surface temperature and salinity gradients were weaker the northern faroe slope was in the early weichselian of mis 5d 5a mainly influenced by weaker inflow of atlantic water and stronger influence of the east icelandic current and by seasonal sea ice cover during the later part of the weichselian mis 4 mis 2 cold conditions prevailed with extensive sea ice cover except during the warmer interstadials the diatom floras were more sensitive to climate changes than the planktic foraminifera and indicate longer periods with warm surface conditions and increased influence of the warm atlantic surface water from the faroe current in mis 5 suggesting a shallower and much steeper thermocline during the transitional periods compared to today the diatoms are good indicators for atlantic water inflow and possible convection in the nordic seas not merely reflecting orbital variations in insolation as previously suggested

assessing elastic coulomb stress transfer models using seismicity rates in southern california and southwestern japan 1 we investigated whether observed changes in seismicity rate following the 1992 landers and 1995 kobe earthquakes correspond with predictions from coulomb stress transfer models to quantify the relationship between coulomb stress change and seismicity rate change we compared spatial changes in observed seismicity rates to the modeled changes in coulomb failure stress cfs for the two subject earthquakes we begin with the simplest and most common cfs model which assumes that regional stress orientations are uniform and the stress change is resolved on optimally oriented strike slip planes we then extended the cfs models to include the more geophysically realistic assumptions of spatially varying regional stress orientations and optimally oriented planes in three dimensions for all the tested cfs models we found that virtually everywhere seismicity rate changes could be resolved the rate increased regardless of whether the cfs theoretically promoted or inhibited failure and that we were not able to reliably resolve seismicity rate decreases an improvement in the correlation between the sign of the cfs and where rate increases occur when estimating the cfs on optimally oriented planes in three dimensions rather than two dimensions is a consequence of using optimally oriented planes and the ability to primarily observe rate increases the region of positive cfs increases by allowing more degrees of freedom so the correlation with positive rate change appears to increase the areas of highest seismicity rate following the main shock did not correlate with the sign or the magnitude of the cfs rather the areas most active after the main shock were also the most active before the main shock

modeling the water masses of the atlantic ocean at the last glacial maximum 1 we produced gridded monthly sea surface boundary conditions for the atlantic ocean at the last glacial maximum lgm based on the sea surface temperature reconstruction of the glamap project we used an ocean general circulation model ogcm subject to these sea surface boundary conditions and a corresponding wind stress field from an atmospheric general circulation model to study the differences in the distribution of the main water masses between the lgm and the present our global ogcm is characterized by high vertical resolution low vertical diffusion and isopycnal mixing and hence allows for a realistic representation of the hydrology and circulation of the modern atlantic ocean according to a series of lgm experiments with an increasing sea surface salinity anomaly in the weddell sea the ventilated thermocline was colder than today by 2 3 c in the north atlantic ocean and in the experiment with the largest anomaly 1 0 beyond the global anomaly by 4 5 c in the south atlantic ocean its depth was reduced by 50 m on average most notably in the tropics in the north atlantic ocean the outcrop locations of the thermocline isopycnal surfaces migrated southward by 5 10 and the ventilation increased in the south atlantic ocean the mixed layer and thermocline water masses were dominated by cold water originating from drake passage and the import of warm water from the indian ocean was reduced to about 4 sv or 40 of its modern value antarctic intermediate water was colder by 3 4 c and could be traced as far as 10 n the meridional overturning rates of north atlantic deep water nadw and antarctic bottom water aabw in the atlantic ocean were similar to those of the present day experiment 9 10 sv and 4 sv respectively however nadw cooled by 2 5 c and aabw by 1 c aabw was near the freezing point of seawater at the surface and the saltiest water mass in the atlantic ocean even saltier than nadw we show that the differences between the lgm and the present day experiments can be traced back to the changes in the subpolar and interhemispheric sea surface density gradients

late pleistocene variations in antarctic sea ice i effect of orbital insolation changes the effect of orbitally induced insolation changes on antarctic sea ice cover are examined by means of a dynamic thermodynamic seaice model results are compared with modified climap 18 000 b p sea ice reconstructions calculations suggest that changes in insolation receipt had only a minor influence on pleistocene sea ice distributions the small response can be explained by a number of factors albedo effects reduce the insolation perturbation at the surface some of the shortwave radiation entering the ocean contributes to bottom ablation rather than lateral melting the radiation perturbation at the upper surface of the ice must go to warming the surface to the melting point before melting ensues and finally the relatively high heat capacity of open water dampens the surface temperature response to altered seasonal insolation perturbations

sedimentation of biogenic siliceous particles in antarctic waters from the atlantic sector abstract sediment traps were deployed in the drake passage bransfield strait and west of south orkney islands powell basin during december 1980 january 1981 december 1983 and between march and december 1983 respectively most of the trapped material is biogenic opal except in the lower half of the water column in bransfield strait where large amounts of resuspended aluminosilicates and quartz grains were present frustules and skeletons of siliceous microorganisms diatoms silicoflagellates radiolarians chrysophycean cysts fragments and moults of crustaceans and tests of foraminifera were found quantitatively diatoms are the dominant constituent of the trapped biogenic material alteration of diatom assemblages in the water column is due to mechanical breakdown by grazing zooplankton it mainly affects large frustules e g corethron criophilum castracane in the uppermost part of the water column dissolution of frustules occurs mostly at the sediment water interface and leads to the enrichment of strongly silicified valves e g nitzschia kerguelensis o meara hasle thalassiosira antarctica comber resting spores at the bransfield strait site a large part of biogenic opal was incorporated into fecal pellets of krill and copepods the bulk of pellet content consists of fragmented diatom frustules 1 10 m in size most intact valves found in the sediments have settled through the water column by means other than fecal pellet transport e g settling as solitary particles or incorporated into or attached to marine snow or large amorphous aggregates

application of modern analog technique to marine antarctic diatoms reconstruction of maximum sea ice extent at the last glacial maximum modern analog technique mat applied to antarctic diatoms is a new approach for quantitative sea ice paleoreconstructions in the southern ocean in a first step we show that mat is a better approach than the imbrie and kipp method to reconstruct the modern sea ice pattern we then use this approach to reconstruct sea ice presence in number of months per year during the last glacial maximum lgm at this time sea ice presence was greater than today leading to a shorter diatom growing season the maximum sea ice extent inferred from quantitative values of sea ice presence was located 5 8 north of its actual position leading to double the surface of modern winter sea ice this greater sea ice extent may have played a significant role on atmospheric and surface oceanic circulations and therefore on southern mid latitude and high latitude climates it may also have reduced the amount of heat moisture and co2 from the ocean to the atmosphere thus participating in the lowering of atmospheric co2 during the lgm

recent diatom record of mcmurdo sound antarctica implications for history of sea ice extent analyses of diatom assemblages within surface sediments from mcmurdo sound antarctica document the regional circulation patterns in this large embayment in the southwestern ross sea thalassiosira spp indicative of water column primary productivity is most common in eastern and portions of northwestern mcmurdo sound as a result of its advection into these regions from areas of open water primary productivity surface sediments from southwestern mcmurdo sound are composed mainly of nitzschia curta a small pennate form commonly found both as a member of the sea ice microbial community as well as a dominant component in ice edge blooms in the ross sea the northward advection of oligotrophic water into the western sound from beneath the mcmurdo ice shelf results in the dominance of an autochthonous flora in the southwestern sound sediments deposited during the past 500 years also have been dominated by thalassiosira spp and nitzschia curta thalassiosira spp concentrations reached a maximum between 1600 and 1875 a d corresponding to the time of the little ice age more persistent winds may have been responsible for more prevalent polynyas at that time resulting in greater amounts of open water primary productivity and subsequent higher percentages of thalassiosira spp increased areal extent and or duration of coastal polynyas during the little ice age suggests that within the southwestern ross sea the production of high salinity shelf water and hence antarctic bottom water may have been greater at that time

the southern hemisphere westerlies in the australasian sector over the last glacial cycle a synthesis abstract the southern hemisphere westerlies in the southwest pacific are known to have waxed and waned numerous times during the last two glacial cycles though even semi continuous histories of the westerlies extend back no more than about 20 000 years we have good evidence for at least three scales of events a westerly maximum occurs at the last glacial maximum there is less conclusive evidence for another westerly maximum in the late holocene and for a minimum at ca 11 ka it is too early to ascribe even a cycle to these data but there are grounds to suggest that milankovitch precessional forcing may underlie the observed pattern there is also a quasi 2600 year cycle present in antarctic ice cores that appears to correlate to variation in westerly flow there is strong centennial scale variability in historical times the little ice age lia ca 1400 1850 was associated with a poleward shift in the circumpolar trough in the southern ocean strengthened westerly circulation over tasmania and a strengthening of southwesterly circulation and neoglaciation in southern new zealand while the preceding period 800 1400 ad was less certainly marked by reduced westerly flow from modern records we know that decadal and inter annual variability is important e g pacific decadal oscillation high latitude mode also known as the antarctic oscillation el nino southern oscillation only a minority of the proxies examined can identify changes on these temporal scales but data from tree rings ice cores and laminated lake sediments do indicate systematic changes in these phenomena through time rossby wave patterns are shown to play a critical role in long duration events as well as at the synoptic scale we conclude that westerly circulation is as strong now as at any time in the last glacial cycle in addition changes in latitudinal boundaries in the westerlies may be nearly as large in inter annual zonal shifts ca 2 maximum as in glaciation interglaciation movements ca 3 4 there is however reasonable evidence of strengthening weakening across much of the westerly belt at westerly maxima minima such as the lia early holocene

ecology and paleoecology of the marine diatomeucampia antarctica castr mangin abstract the distribution of eucampia antarctica both in the water column and in the sediments of the southern ocean is discussed on the basis of these data it is concluded that although this species is widely distributed in the southern ocean it is most abundant in a near shore and or neritic environment however a pseudoneritic environment provided by floating ice may also provide a suitable substrate for the proliferation of this species

mechanisms of holocene palaeoenvironmental change in the antarctic peninsula region the antarctic peninsula is one of the three fastest warming regions on earth here we review holocene proxy records of marine and terrestrial palaeoclimate in the region and discuss possible forcing mechanisms underlying past change with a specific focus on past warm periods our aim is to critically evaluate the mechanisms by which palaeoclimate changes might have occurred in order to provide a longer term context for assessing the drivers of recent warming two warm events are well recorded in the holocene palaeoclimate record namely the early holocene warm period and the mid holocene hypsithermal mhh whereas there are fewer proxy data for the mediaeval warm period mwp and the recent rapid regional rrr warming we show that the early holocene warm period and mhh might be explained by relatively abrupt shifts in position of the southern westerlies superimposed on slower solar insolation changes a key finding of our synthesis is that the marine and terrestrial records in the ap appear to show markedly different behaviour during the mhh this might be partly explained by contrasts in the seasonal insolation forcing between these records circumpolar deep water cdw has been implicated in several of the prominent changes through the holocene but there are still differences in interpretation of the proxy record that make its influence difficult to assess further work is required to investigate contrasts between marine and terrestrial proxy records east west contrasts in palaeoclimate the history of cdw to retrieve a long onshore high resolution record of the holocene and determine the role of sea ice in driving or modulating palaeoclimate change along with further efforts to study the proxy record of the rrr and the mwp

the subantarctic and polar fronts in relation to deep water masses through the southwestern atlantic the two principal fronts within the antarctic circumpolar current acc the subantarctic front saf and the polar front pf are investigated with respect to their spatial patterns and relations to deep water masses from the northern drake passage to the western and southern argentine basin observations from four recent cruises in adjoining and overlapping regions are supplemented with satellite infrared imagery and trajectories from surface drifters east of drake passage the width of the polar frontal zone pfz increases rapidly when the saf turns sharply northward as a part of the falkland malvinas current while the pf remains oriented mainly toward the northeast found within this region of the pfz are mesoscale eddies the upper layers of which consist of subantarctic mode water from the pacific the contrasts in upper layer water properties that identify the saf can be traced the entire length of the falkland current to the brazil falkland confluence zone and then southward to the southern argentine basin there the saf turns eastward and later but perhaps not always merges with the pf north of ewing bank to form a single intense current core strongly influenced by bottom topography at times this eastward current loops southward through a gap in the falkland ridge into the georgia basin thereby supplying relatively warm and salty subantarctic water to the antarctic zone east of the gap the two fronts become separated and are once again distinct features in the vicinity of the islas orcadas rise at depth within drake passage and the western scotia sea the saf and pf are not lateral boundaries between distinct water masses but are instead identified by enhanced vertical displacements of property isopleths with the northward turn of the saf east of drake passage a thick layer of circumpolar deep water cdw is advected over the falkland plateau into the argentine basin there it is joined by waters entering the argentine basin via a deep spreading route through the georgia basin denser cdw deep water from the weddell sea and episodically deep water from the southeastern pacific ocean together these waters form a northward flow off the patagonian shelf that extends from the sea surface to the bottom most of which turns back toward the south with the falkland current return also flowing south along the seaward side of the falkland current return well away from the western boundary is the main core of north atlantic deep water nadw detatched masses of nadw are observed within the cdw at the western boundary as well as within the acc south of the saf in the south central argentine basin

the reconstruction of late quaternary antarctic sea ice distribution the use of diatoms as a proxy for sea ice the study of annual diatom transfer from the southern ocean surface to the sea floor using time series sediment traps combined with the mapping of diatom assemblages from surface sediments results in the definition of a proxy for past variations of sea ice extent the application and robustness of the proposed proxy are demonstrated by the study of late pleistocene sediment cores recovered from different environmental regimes in the southern ocean relative amounts of the sea ice indicator diatoms fragilariopsis cylindrus and fragilariopsis curta of 3 in diatom assemblages preserved in sediments are representative of the presence of seasonal winter sea ice summer sea ice occurrence is signalled by a distinct drop in biogenic sedimentation rate as a result of strongly reduced biogenic export in the presence 3 of diatom assemblage of the deep temperature diatom fragilariopsis obliquecostata the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of the sea ice proxy indicates significant sea ice variations during marine isotope stages 1 and 5 in the present antarctic zone of the southern ocean during glacial maxima the antarctic winter sea ice was extended into the present polar front zone while the antarctic summer sea ice was most probably expanded into the area of the present winter sea ice edge during the short climatic optima at the onset of interglacial periods the winter sea ice extent was distinctly reduced

226ra in barite absolute dating of holocene southern ocean sediments and reconstruction of sea surface reservoir ages absolute dating of marine sediments is necessary to achieve reliable correlations of paleoclimate records the 2 2 6 ra decay in barite separated from a deep sea core of the southern ocean was used to determine absolute ages for the holocene epoch comparison with 1 4 c ages measured on planktic foraminifers provides the first past sea surface reservoir ages in the antarctic zone of the southern ocean throughout the middle to late holocene our results indicate a reservoir age of ca 1100 yr comparable to modern estimates a significantly higher reservoir age ca 1900 yr is obtained for the early holocene which suggests a major change in the southern ocean circulation at that time