millennial scale sea surface temperature and patagonian ice sheet changes off southernmost chile 53 s over the past 60 kyr 1 glacial millennial scale paleoceanographic changes in the southeast pacific and the adjacent southern ocean are poorly known due to the scarcity of well dated and high resolution sediment records here we present new surface water records from sediment core md07 3128 recovered at 53 s off the pacific entrance of the strait of magellan the alkenone derived sea surface temperature sst record reveals a very strong warming of ca 8 c over the last termination and substantial millennial scale variability in the glacial section largely consistent with our planktonic foraminifera oxygen isotope 18o record of neogloboquadrina pachyderma sin the timing and structure of the termination and some of the millennial scale sst fluctuations are very similar to those observed in the well dated sst record from odp site 1233 41 s and the temperature record from drowning maud land antarctic ice core supporting the hemispheric wide antarctic timing of sst changes however differences in our new sst record are also found including a long term warming trend over marine isotope stage mis 3 followed by a cooling toward the last glacial maximum lgm we suggest that these differences reflect regional cooling related to the proximal location of the southern patagonian ice sheet and related meltwater supply at least during the lgm consistent with the fact that no longer sst cooling trend is observed in odp site 1233 or any sst chilean record this proximal ice sheet location is documented by generally higher contents of ice rafted debris ird and tetra unsaturated alkenones and a slight trend toward lighter planktonic 18o during late mis 3 and mis 2

lack of evidence for a substantial sea level fluctuation within the last interglacial during the last interglacial global mean sea level reached approximately 6 to 9 m above the present level this period of high sea level may have been punctuated by a fall of more than 4 m but a cause for such a widespread sea level fall has been elusive reconstructions of global mean sea level account for solid earth processes and so the rapid growth and decay of ice sheets is the most obvious explanation for the sea level fluctuation here we synthesize published geomorphological and stratigraphic indicators from the last interglacial and find no evidence for ice sheet regrowth within the warm interglacial climate we also identify uncertainties in the interpretation of local relative sea level data that underpin the reconstructions of global mean sea level given this uncertainty and taking into account our inability to identify any plausible processes that would cause global sea level to fall by 4 m during warm climate conditions we question the occurrence of a rapid sea level fluctuation within the last interglacial we therefore recommend caution in interpreting the high rates of global mean sea level rise in excess of 3 to 7 m per 1 000 years that have been proposed for the period following the last interglacial sea level lowstand

surface currents in the caribbean sea as deduced from lagrangian observations the results of a satellite tracked drifting buoy experiment conducted in the caribbean sea from october 1975 through june 1976 are presented the buoy trajectories suggest that the aves rise beata ridge and nicaraguan rise are regions where considerable mesoscale variability occurs in the surface flow the variability is in the form of current deflections small diameter eddies ranging in size from 20 to 100 km large amplitude meanders with amplitudes greater than 150 km and large diameter eddies with diameters greater than 200 km which form on and near these rises and ridges in the central caribbean where the topographic relief is not as dramatic the flow is predominantly zonal intensifications in the surface flow occur off the coast of colombia south of the nicaraguan rise and south of the yucatan strait

gulf stream trajectories measured with free drifting buoys abstract during 1975 78 35 free drifting buoys measured surface currents in the gulf stream region the buoy trajectories trace numerous paths of the stream and show that the stream is strongly influenced by the new england seamounts this influence is manifested as 1 a quasi permanent 100 km southeastward deflection of the stream and the frequent occurrence of a ring meander over the seamounts 2 large amplitude meanders beginning at the seamounts and extending eastward and 3 small 20 km diameter eddies which appear to be generated locally by individual seamounts a chart of the mean temperature field at a depth of 450 m agrees with several of the patterns seen in the buoy trajectories west of the seamounts the mean path of the gulf stream is eastward over the seamounts the path turns sharply northeastward and the isotherms in the stream abruptly diverge

plio pleistocene diatom biostratigraphy from odp leg 177 atlantic sector of the southern ocean abstract seven sites were drilled during ocean drilling program leg 177 in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean so on a transect over the antarctic circumpolar current from the subantarctic to the antarctic zone at four sites sediments were recovered with a pliocene pleistocene sediment package of up to 580 m allowing the refinement of previous diatom zonation concepts samples were analyzed on stratigraphic distribution and abundance of diatom species a refined diatom biozonation tied to the geomagnetic polarity record is proposed for the middle and late pleistocene two zonations applicable to the northern and southern area of the so were constructed considering different latitudinal distributions of biostratigraphic diatom marker species the southern zonation for the pleistocene relies on the occurrence of species of the genus rouxia r leventerae and r constricta n sp as well as on a revised last occurrence datum lod of actinocyclus ingens 0 38 ma late marine isotope stage mis 11 the use of these new stratigraphic marker species refines the temporal resolution for biostratigraphic age assignment to up to 0 1 myr in particular the lod of r leventerae as an indicator for the mis 6 5 boundary termination ii will improve future dating of carbonate free antarctic sediments these new data were obtained from sediments of sites 1093 and 1094 antarctic zone the northern zonation for the middle and late pleistocene time interval is based on the pleistocene abundance pattern of hemidiscus karstenii which was already proposed by previous investigations e g gersonde and barcena 1998 one new species r constricta and two new combinations fragilariopsis clementia fragilariopsis reinholdii are proposed in this study

links between iron supply marine productivity sea surface temperature and co2 over the last 1 1 ma received 3 july 2008 revised 9 october 2008 accepted 27 october 2008 published 14 february 2009 1 paleoclimatic reconstructions have provided a unique data set to test the sensitivity of climate system to changes in atmospheric co2 concentrations however the mechanisms behind glacial interglacial g ig variations in atmospheric co2 concentrations observed in the antarctic ice cores are still not fully understood here we present a new multiproxy data set of sea surface temperatures sst dust and iron supply and marine export productivity from the marine sediment core ps2489 2 odp site 1090 located in the subantarctic atlantic that allow us to evaluate various hypotheses on the role of the southern ocean so in modulating atmospheric co2 concentrations back to 1 1 ma we show that antarctic atmospheric temperatures are closely linked to changes in so surface temperatures over the last 800 ka and use this to synchronize the timescales of our marine and the european project for ice coring in antarctica epica dome c edc records the close correlation observed between iron inputs and marine export production over the entire interval implies that the process of iron fertilization of marine biota has been a recurrent process operating in the subantarctic region over the g ig cycles of the last 1 1 ma however our data suggest that marine productivity can only explain a fraction of atmospheric co2 changes up to around 40 50 ppmv occurring at glacial maxima in each glacial stage in this sense the good correlation of our sst record to the edc temperature reconstruction suggests that the initial glacial co2 decrease as well as the change in the amplitude of the co2 cycles observed around 400 ka was most likely driven by physical processes possibly related to changes in antarctic sea ice extent surface water stratification and westerly winds position

340 000 year centennial scale marine record of southern hemisphere climatic oscillation in order to investigate rapid climatic changes at mid southern latitudes we have developed centennial scale paleoceanographic records from the southwest pacific that enable detailed comparison with antarctic ice core records these records suggest close coupling of mid southern latitudes with antarctic climate during deglacial and interglacial periods glacial sections display higher variability than is seen in antarctic ice cores which implies climatic decoupling between mid and high southern latitudes due to enhanced circum antarctic circulation structural and temporal similarity with the greenland ice core record is evident in glacial sections and suggests a degree of interhemispheric synchroneity not predicted from bipolar ice core correlations

deglacial changes in flow and frontal structure through the drake passage the oceanic gateways of the drake passage and the agulhas current are critical locations for the inflow of intermediate depth water masses to the atlantic which contribute to the shallow return flow that balances the export of deep water from the north atlantic the thermohaline properties of northward flowing intermediate water are ultimately determined by the inflow of water through oceanic gateways here we focus on the less well studied cold water route through the drake passage we present millennially resolved bottom current flow speed and sea surface temperature records downstream of the drake passage spanning the last 25 000 yr we find that prior to 15 ka bottom current flow speeds at sites in the drake passage region were dissimilar and there was a marked anti phasing between sea surface temperatures at sites upstream and downstream of the drake passage after 14 ka we observe a remarkable convergence of flow speeds coupled with a sea surface temperature phase change at sites upstream and downstream of drake passage we interpret this convergence as evidence for a significant southward shift of the sub antarctic front from a position north of drake passage this southward shift increased the through flow of water from the pacific likely reducing the density of atlantic intermediate water the timing of the southward shift in the sub antarctic front is synchronous with a major re invigoration of atlantic meridional overturning circulation with which we argue it may be linked

local insolation changes enhance antarctic interglacials insights from an 800 000 year ice sheet simulation with transient climate forcing abstract the antarctic ice sheet storing 27 million cubic kilometres of ice has the potential to contribute greatly to future sea level rise yet its past evolution and sensitivity to long term climatic drivers remain poorly understood and constrained in particular a long standing debate questions whether antarctic climate and ice volume respond mostly to changes in global sea level and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations or to local insolation changes so far long term antarctic simulations have used proxy based parameterizations of climatic drivers presuming that external forcings are synchronous and spatially uniform here for the first time we use a transient three dimensional climate simulation over the last eight glacial cycles to drive an antarctic ice sheet model we show that the evolution of the antarctic ice sheet was mostly driven by co2 and sea level forcing with a period of about 100 000 yr synchronizing both hemispheres however on precessional time scales local insolation forcing drives additional mass loss during periods of high sea level and co2 enhancing the antarctic interglacial and putting northern and southern ice sheet variability temporarily out of phase in our simulations partial collapses of the west antarctic ice sheet during warm interglacials are only simulated with unrealistically large southern ocean subsurface warming exceeding 4 c overall our results further elucidate the complex interplay of global and local forcings in driving late quaternary antarctic ice sheet evolution and the unique and overlooked role of precession therein

last glacial sea surface temperatures and sea ice extent in the southern ocean atlantic indian sector a multiproxy approach 1 on the basis of the quantitative study of diatom radiolarian and planktic foraminiferal assemblages we estimated summer sea surface temperature ssst and sea ice extent at 50 sediment core localities in the atlantic and western indian sector of the southern ocean to reconstruct the last glacial environment at the glamap 18 to 15 ka equal to 21 500 to 18 000 calendar cal years bp and epilog 19 5 to 16 0 ka equal to 23 000 to 19 000 cal years bp time slices stratigraphic identification of the time slices was accomplished by a combination of ams 14c measurements benthic isotope and siliceous microfossil abundance records while the ssst estimates reveal greater surface water cooling than reconstructed by climap 1981 reaching a maximum in the area of the present subantarctic zone the sea ice reconstruction indicates that climap overestimated the expansion of the antarctic sea ice field especially for austral summer during winter the sea ice field was expanded by 60 70 compared to the present last glacial summer sea surface isotherms indicate a northward shift of the zonal bands of the antarctic circumpolar current and a relative expansion of the cold water realm south of the subantarctic front by 5 in latitude this coincides with a northward displacement of the zone of enhanced biogenic silica deposition and iceberg occurrence as a result of northward expansion of antarctic cold waters and a relatively small displacement of the subtropical front thermal gradients were steepened during the last glacial in the area of the present subtropical front the northward displacement of antarctic cold waters and the related deflection of southern ocean waters along the eastern boundary of south america may have resulted in a weakened cold water route across the drake passage in contrast the transport of warm and salty surface water from the indian into the atlantic ocean via the warm water route was not blocked allowing continuous but reduced import of heat into the south atlantic

late quaternary evolution of lago castor chile 45 6 s timing of the deglaciation in northern patagonia and evolution of the southern westerlies during the last 17 kyr abstract even though patagonia is ideally located to study climate of the southern mid latitudes many questions on the late quaternary climate evolution remain unresolved the timing of maximum glacier extent is still uncertain in vast areas and the postglacial evolution of the southern westerly wind belt swwb remains highly debated here we study the sedimentary infill of a glacigenic lake lago castor 45 6 s 71 8 w located at the leeside of the andes in chilean patagonia to i reconstruct the deglacial evolution of the eastern flank of the patagonian ice sheet pis and ii discuss postglacial changes in wind strength at a critical location where westerly wind records are critically lacking a dense grid of high resolution reflection seismic data was used to reconstruct the large scale infill history of the lake and a radiocarbon dated sediment core penetrating all lacustrine seismic units was retrieved results indicate that the deglaciation of the lake basin and its catchment occurred no later than 28 cal kyr bp i e an early lgm but possibly even already after mis 4 afterwards the lago castor area was covered by a large proglacial lake that drained possibly through an outburst flood when the pis outlet glaciers retreated to a critical location subsequently very dry conditions caused the lake to desiccate as evidenced by an unconformity visible on the seismic profiles and in the sediment core this dry period likely resulted from the increased orographic effect of the pis covered andes accompanied by weaker westerlies from 20 kyr bp onwards the combination of a shrinking pis and a southward shift of the swwb resulted in increased precipitation which caused the lake level to rise after 17 cal kyr bp lake sedimentation was more directly influenced by the southern westerlies with the formation of sediment drifts resulting from strong bottom current during periods of intense westerly winds our results suggest a progressive increase in wind strength at 46 s from 11 2 to 4 5 cal kyr bp which supports the hypothesis that the swwb broadened during the early and middle holocene

interglacials of the last 800 000 years interglacials including the present holocene period are warm low land ice extent high sea level end members of glacial cycles based on a sea level definition we identify eleven interglacials in the last 800 000 years a result that is robust to alternative definitions data compilations suggest that despite spatial heterogeneity marine isotope stages mis 5e last interglacial and 11c 400 ka ago were globally strong warm while mis 13a 500 ka ago was cool at many locations a step change in strength of interglacials at 450 ka is apparent only in atmospheric co2 and in antarctic and deep ocean temperature the onset of an interglacial glacial termination seems to require a reducing precession parameter increasing northern hemisphere summer insolation but this condition alone is insufficient terminations involve rapid nonlinear reactions of ice volume co2 and temperature to external astronomical forcing the precise timing of events may be modulated by millennial scale climate change that can lead to a contrasting timing of maximum interglacial intensity in each hemisphere a variety of temporal trends is observed such that maxima in the main records are observed either early or late in different interglacials the end of an interglacial glacial inception is a slower process involving a global sequence of changes interglacials have been typically 10 30 ka long the combination of minimal reduction in northern summer insolation over the next few orbital cycles owing to low eccentricity and high atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations implies that the next glacial inception is many tens of millennia in the future

comparison of alkenone estimates with other paleotemperature proxies 1 to a certain degree all sea surface temperature sst proxies suffer from uncertainty due to signal preservation problems and to perturbations by other environmental variables however a multiproxy reconstruction is justified because most biases should in principle cancel out as they are specific to the biological groups and or to the analyzed chemical species such a multiproxy strategy has proven crucial for calibrating these proxies and is also useful in assessing downcore profiles until now there have been only a dozen deep sea cores where it is possible to compare directly alkenone based ssts with other paleotemperature records from this still limited data set the broad picture is of general agreement for the amplitude of changes at low and middle latitudes the few observed discrepancies suggest that alkenone based temperatures are more comparable to those based on mg ca ratios than those obtained through statistical analysis of the foraminiferal distribution more systematic differences are noted at higher latitudes where alkenones indicate warmer temperatures during the glacial period than transfer functions based on foraminifera or diatoms several reasons have been invoked to resolve the mismatch but more ground truthing work is needed before deciding which temperature changes are the most accurate

sea surface temperatures around the australian margin and indian ocean during the last glacial maximum abstract we present new last glacial maximum lgm sea surface temperature sst maps for the oceans around australia based on planktonic foraminifera assemblages to provide the most reliable sst estimates we use the modern analog technique the revised analog method and artificial neural networks in conjunction with an expanded modern core top database all three methods produce similar quality predictions and the root mean squared error of the consensus prediction the average of the three under cross validation is only 0 77 c we determine lgm sst using data from 165 cores most of which have good age control from oxygen isotope stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates the coldest sst occurred at 20 500 1400 cal yr bp predating the maximum in oxygen isotope records at 18 200 1500 cal yr bp during the lgm interval we observe cooling within the tropics of up to 4 c in the eastern indian ocean and mostly between 0 and 3 c elsewhere along the equator the high latitudes cooled by the greatest degree a maximum of 7 9 c in the southwest pacific ocean our maps improve substantially on previous attempts by making higher quality temperature estimates using more cores and improving age control

orbital and millennial antarctic climate variability over the past 800 000 years a high resolution deuterium profile is now available along the entire european project for ice coring in antarctica dome c ice core extending this climate record back to marine isotope stage 20 2 800 000 years ago experiments performed with an atmospheric general circulation model including water isotopes support its temperature interpretation we assessed the general correspondence between dansgaard oeschger events and their smoothed antarctic counterparts for this dome c record which reveals the presence of such features with similar amplitudes during previous glacial periods we suggest that the interplay between obliquity and precession accounts for the variable intensity of interglacial periods in ice core records

distributions of long chain alkenones and alkyl alkenoates in marine surface sediments from the north east atlantic abstract the abundances of long chain alkenones and alkyl alkenoates are reported for a suite of surface sediments from the ne atlantic 0 75 n despite the differing conditions of their biologies and differing extents of water column degradation and of early diagenesis in the sediments the degree of unsaturation of the alkenones e g the u 37 k parameter and the relative proportion of alkyl alkenoates to alkenones display linear correlations with average temperature for surface waters warmer than 5 c there is evidence that the chain length distribution of the alkenones and of the ratio between the ethyl and methyl c 38 alkenones are species dependent which would enable their use as chemotaxonomic tools

evidence for a warm last glacial maximum in the nordic seas or an example of shortcomings in uk 37 and uk 37 to estimate low sea surface temperature the occurrence of ice free conditions in the nordic seas during the last glacial maximum has been demonstrated using microfossil and biomarker approaches an accurate picture of the prevailing oceanographic conditions may be more difficult to ascertain thus uncertainties for most proxies increase at the cold extreme of temperature calibrations and glacial sediments contain small amounts of microfossils and biomarkers here we discuss sea surface temperature estimates derived from alkenone indices for the last glacial maximum in the nordic seas that provide a surprising scenario where surface temperatures were warmer than at present we conclude that the uk37 and uk37 estimates may not be interpreted in terms of sea surface temperature as several factors may have conspired to bias the molecular signal however using an alternative index based on the abundance of the c37 4 alkenone we estimate a maximum temperature of 6 c

response of nannoplankton to major changes in sea surface temperature and movements of hydrological fronts over site dsdp 594 south chatham rise southeastern new zealand during the last 130 kyr abstract a high resolution history of paleoceanographic changes in the subpolar waters of the southern margin of the subtropical convergence zone during the last 130 kyr is present in foraminiferal assemblages of dsdp site 594 the foraminifera indicate that sea surface temperatures during the last interglacial climax were warmer than today and that between substage 5d through to the end of isotope stage 2 temperatures were mostly cooler than holocene temperatures the paleotemperatures suggest that 1 the subtropical convergence was located over the site during substage 5e later moving further north then moving southwards to near the site during the holocene and 2 the polar front was positioned over the site during glacial stages 6 4 2 and possibly parts of stage 3 several major events are indicated by the nannofloral assemblages during these large changes in sea surface temperature and associated reorganization of ocean circulation first the time progressive trends between e huxleyi and medium to large gephyrocapsa are unique to this site with e huxleyi dominating over medium gephyrocapsa during stages 5c a middle part of stage 4 and after the middle point of stage 3 this unusual trend may at least partly be caused by the shift of the polar front across the site second upwelling flora e huxleyi and small placoliths increase in abundance during stages 1 3 and 5 suggesting that upwelling or disturbance of water stratification took place during the interglacials thirdly there are no significant differences between the distribution patterns of the various morphotypes of medium to large gephyrocapsa and the combined value of all medium gephyrocapsa increases in abundance during glacials stages 2 and 4 and the end of stage 6 similar to the abundance trends in benthic foraminifera finally subordinate nannofossil taxa also show distinctive climatic trends during the last glacial cycle 1 syracosphaera spp are present in increased abundance during warmer extremes in climate substages 5e 5a and stage 1 2 coccolithus pelagicus and calcidiscus leptoporus dominate the subordinate nannofossil taxa and their relative proportions seem to provide a useful paleoceanographic index with c pelagicus dominating when the polar front zone is over the site stages 6 4 and 2 whilst c leptoporus is relatively more abundant when the stc is positioned over the site stages 1 and 5e increased abundance of c pelagicus also can indicate intensified coastal upwelling

delineation of a collapse feature in a noisy environment using a multichannel surface wave technique a collapse developed at calvert cliffs nuclear power plant maryland in early 2001 the location of the collapse was over a groundwater drainage system pipe buried at an elevation of 0 9 m reference is to chesapeake bay level the cause of the collapse was a subsurface drain pipe that collapsed because of saltwater corrosion of the corrugated metal pipe the inflow outflow of sea water and groundwater flow caused soil to be removed from the area where the pipe collapsed to prevent damage to nearby structures the collapse was quickly filled with uncompacted sand and gravel 36 000 kg however the plant had an immediate need to determine whether more underground voids existed a high frequency multichannel surface wave survey technique was conducted to define the zone affected by the collapse although the surface wave survey at calvert cliffs nuclear power plant was conducted at a noise level 50 100 times higher than the normal environment for a shallow seismic survey the shear s wave velocity

climate variability at the southern boundaries of the namib southwestern africa and atacama northern chile coastal deserts during the last 120 000 yr abstract in this study we present grain size distributions of the terrigenous fraction of two deep sea sediment cores from the se atlantic offshore namibia and from the se pacific offshore northern chile which we unmix into subpopulations and which are interpreted as coarse eolian dust fine eolian dust and fluvial mud the downcore ratios of the proportions of eolian dust and fluvial mud subsequently represent paleocontinental aridity records of southwestern africa and northern chile for the last 120 000 yr the two records show a relatively wet last glacial maximum lgm compared to a relatively dry holocene but different orbital variability on longer time scales generally the northern chilean aridity record shows higher frequency changes which are closely related to precessional variation in solar insolation compared to the southwestern african aridity record which shows a remarkable resemblance to the global ice volume record we relate the changes in continental aridity in southwestern africa and northern chile to changes in the latitudinal position of the moisture bearing southern westerlies potentially driven by the sea ice extent around antarctica and overprinted by tropical forcing in the equatorial pacific ocean

climatic evolution in the australian region over the last 94 ka spanning human occupancy and unveiling the last glacial maximum abstract the quaternary is well known for being a period of the geological record that saw significant and alternating climatic fluctuations here we concentrate on the last 94 millennia that saw australia and its surrounding seas undergo significant environmental changes importantly also it is during that this period of time includes the arrival and settlement of humans in australia following on from marine isotopic stage 4 mis4 that saw over the period of 71 59 ka bp a significant eustatic sea level drop 100 m low sea surface temperatures as well as glacial conditions on land australia experienced wet conditions again but eventually progressively entered into a glacial phase by then humans had arrived on this large continent and later the megafauna progressively became extinct this paper describes in detail the climate over this period based principally on the high resolution record of two marine sediment cores located offshore of the southern australian margin and that are then compared with known events on land as well as other deep sea cores particular emphasis is placed on the period that spans the last glacial maximum lgm the extent of which thus far had been poorly defined in the australian region emphasis is placed on the period from 34 to 14 ka to demonstrate that 1 the lgm defined here as the period 24 to 18 ka was not always extremely dry and cold and 2 that people were able to live in inland australia as water existed in places despite generally cold conditions we also show using a series of ten maps at 2 ka intervals over the 34 14 ka period the waxing and waning of oceanic fronts such as the subtropical and subantarctic fronts link sea surface temperatures sst with periods of glacial expansion in the australian alps and tasmania as well as the south island of new zealand and the extent of the leeuwin current down to south of australia aeolian dust was transported at sea over the main core site from 26 to 18 ka period pointing to arid conditions in australia but this period was punctuated by two significant reductions in dust transport to both core sites coinciding with a retreat of the subantarctic front away from the australian southern coastline and slight sst shifts for a few centuries at 24 and 22 21 ka bp at the peak of the cold phase from 23 to 18 4 ka summer sst were of the order of 9 c below that experienced during the middle of the holocene at about 6 ka bp a similar temperature drop was also experienced offshore the northwestern corner of western australia periglacial activity dates for the australian mainland and tasmania pool around 22 ka on either side of the 24 ka event the chain of lakes in the willandra lakes retained water and human activity was registered in the area elsewhere in australia water was present to sustain human populations during the cold and dry times it is postulated here that northern australia was at times quite wet especially during mis4 the cessation of the lgm is set on 18 4 ka from offshore southern australia as confirmed for the deep sea cores by several proxies and more likely at 18 ka inland finally we document that it took two millennia for glacial conditions to end in the australian region as registered in our deep sea core records well after the lowest global sea level 20 6 and 20 ka respectively started to rise there is also evidence of another very cold period determined on the australian mainland tasmania and the south island of new zealand centred around 27 ka after which time warmer conditions occurred before the start of the lgm this is matched with our deep sea records with very cold conditions and changes in oceanographic conditions

late quaternary sea ice history in the indian sector of the southern ocean as recorded by diatom assemblages abstract a modern analog technique mat5201 31 has been applied to fossil diatom assemblages to provide down core estimates of february sea surface temperatures ssts and of sea ice duration over the past 220 000 years at 56 40 s 160 14 e at the core location sea ice progression lagged the sst drop by 1 ka at interglacial glacial transitions and sea ice retreat was almost synchronous to the sst increase at glacial interglacial terminations sea ice increased continuously during glacial periods to reach its maximum extent at the end of glacial times although ssts were almost constant during glacials this indicates that ssts are the major parameter determining the advance and retreat of sea ice at transitions but that the sea ice advance during glacial conditions may be related to positive feedbacks of the ice on albedo air temperature and meridional wind stress the strong correlation r 0 75 between sea ice duration at the core location and the vostok co2 record argues for a control of antarctic sea ice extent on atmospheric co2 concentration via the modification of the ocean to atmosphere gas balance

the southern westerlies in central chile during the two last glacial cycles as documented by coastal aeolian sand deposits and intercalating palaeosols abstract changes in the position and intensity of the southern westerly winds sww and related causal processes during the quaternary are controversial and not well understood here we present a record from continental central chile based on coastal aeolian sand and dunes with intercalated palaeosols reaching back 190 ka in time sixteen samples for luminescence dating and additional samples for geochemical procedures were analysed from three locations in the norte chico la serena los vilos las ventanas besides the recent bw horizons four palaeosols btb1 btb2 btb3 btb4 are identified they formed in periods with stable surface conditions and a relatively dense vegetation cover whereas sand accumulation reflects increased aeolian activity under dry conditions and in parts glacial sea level lowering three of these soils are well bracketed by luminescence data to

disentangling seasonal signals in holocene climate trends by satellite model proxy integration past sea surface temperatures ssts are routinely estimated from organic and inorganic remains of fossil phytoplankton or zooplankton organisms recovered from sea floor sediments potential seasonal biases of paleo proxies were intensely studied in the past however even for the two most commonly used paleo proxies for sst uk0 37 and mg ca ratios a clear global picture does not yet exist in the present study we combine holocene sst trends derived from uk0 37 and mg ca ratios with results from idealized climate model simulations forced by changes in the orbital conguration which represents the major climate driver over the last 10 kyrs such changes cause a spatio temporal redistribution of incoming solar radiation resulting in a modulation of amplitude and phasing of the seasonal cycle considering that the climate signal recorded by a plankton based paleo proxy may be aected by the seasonal productivity cycle of the respective organism we use the modern relationship between sst and marine net primary production npp both obtained from satellite observations to calculate a seasonality index si as an independent constraint to link modeled sst trends with proxy data although the climate model systematically underestimates holocene sst trends we find that seasonal productivity peaks of the phytoplankton based uk0 37 result in a preferential registering of the warm cold season in high low latitudes as it was expected from the si distribution the overall smoother trends from the zooplankton derived mg ca ssts suggest a more integrated signal over longer time averages which may also carry a seasonal bias but the spatial pattern is less clear based on our ndings careful multi proxy approaches can actually go beyond the reconstruction of average climate trends specifically allowing to resolve the evolution of seasonality

pliocene pleistocene evolution of sea surface and intermediate water temperatures from the southwest pacific over the last 5 million years the global climate system has evolved toward a colder mean state marked by large amplitude oscillations in continental ice volume equatorward expansion of polar waters and strengthening temperature gradients have been detected however the response of the mid latitudes and high latitudes of the southern hemisphere is not well documented despite the potential importance for climate feedbacks including sea ice distribution and low high latitude heat transport here we reconstruct the pliocene pleistocene history of both sea surface and antarctic intermediate water aaiw temperatures on orbital time scales from deep sea drilling project site 593 in the tasman sea southwest pacific we confirm overall pliocene pleistocene cooling trends in both the surface ocean and aaiw although the patterns are complex the pliocene is warmer than modern but our data suggest an equatorward displacement of the subtropical front relative to present and a poleward displacement of the subantarctic front of the antarctic circumpolar current acc two main intervals of cooling from 3 ma and 1 5 ma are coeval with cooling and ice sheet expansion noted elsewhere and suggest that equatorward expansion of polar water masses also characterized the southwest pacific through the pliocene pleistocene however the observed trends in sea surface temperature and aaiw temperature are not identical despite an underlying link to the acc and intervals of unusual surface ocean warmth 2 ma and large amplitude variability in aaiw temperatures from 1 ma highlight complex interactions between equatorward displacements of fronts associated with the acc and or varying poleward heat transport from the subtropics

last glacial maximum sea surface temperature and sea ice extent in the pacific sector of the southern ocean sea surface temperatures and sea ice extent are most critical variables to evaluate the southern ocean paleoceanographic evolution in relation to the development of the global carbon cycle atmospheric co2 and ocean atmosphere circulation here we present diatom transfer function based summer sea surface temperature ssst and winter sea ice wsi estimates from the pacific sector of the southern ocean to bridge a gap in information that has to date hampered a well established reconstruction of the last glacial southern ocean at circum antarctic scale we studied the last glacial maximum lgm at the epilog time slice 19 000e23 000 calendar years before present in 17 cores and consolidated our lgm picture of the pacific sector taking into account published data from its warmer regions our data display a distinct east west differentiation with a rather stable wsi edge north of the pacific antarctic ridge in the ross sea sector and a more variable wsi extent over the amundsen abyssal plain the zone of maximum cooling 4 k during the lgm is in the present subantarctic zone and bounded to its south by the 4 c isotherm the isotherm is in the ssst range prevailing at the modern antarctic polar front representing a circum antarctic feature and marks the northern edge of the glacial antarctic circum polar current acc the northward deflection of colder than modern surface waters along the south american continent led to a significant cooling of the glacial humboldt current surface waters 4e8 k which affected the temperature regimes as far north as tropical latitudes the glacial reduction of acc temperatures may also have resulted in significant cooling in the atlantic and indian southern ocean thus enhancing thermal differentiation of the southern ocean and antarctic continental cooling the comparison with numerical temperature and sea ice simulations yields discrepancies especially con cerning the estimates of the sea ice fields but some simulations reproduce well our proxy based tem perature data

mechanisms and variations of the paleoproductivity off northern chile 24 s 33 s during the last 40 000 years 1 a multiparameter investigation including organic carbon carbonate opal and planktic foraminifera was carried out on five sediment cores from the coastal upwelling area between 24 s and 33 s along the peru chile current to reconstruct the history of the paleoproductivity and its driving mechanisms during the last 40 000 years inferred from our data we conclude that the antarctic circumpolar current as the main nutrient source in this region mainly drives the productivity by its latitudinal shifts associated with climate change simplified its northerly position during the last glacial led to enhanced productivities and its southerly position during the holocene caused lower productivities at 33 s the paleoproductivity was additionally affected by the southern westerlies and records highest levels during the last glacial maximum lgm north of 33 s several factors e g position and strength of the south pacific anticyclone wind stress continental runoff and el nino southern oscillation events supplementary influenced upwelling and paleoproductivity where maximum values occurred prior to the lgm and during the deglaciation

paleoproductivity evolution off central chile from the last glacial maximum to the early holocene a geochemical and paleontological reconstruction of paleoproductivity upwelling intensity and sea surface temperature sst off central chile at 35 s geob3359 3 reveals marked changes from the last glacial maximum lgm through the early holocene surface water productivity was determined by the interaction between the atmospheric the southern westerlies and oceanographic the antarctic circumpolar current acc systems from the lgm through early termination i ti the northward shift of the climate zones during the lgm brought the acc as the main macronutrient source closer to the geob3359 3 sst lowered and surface water productivity and accumulation rates of biogenic components enhanced with the poleward return of the southern westerlies and the acc the subtropical high pressure system became the dominant atmospheric component southward till 35 s during the late ti and early holocene and caused surface water productivity to increase through enhanced upwelling

reconstruction of sea surface temperatures in the canary islands during marine isotope stage 11 the study of paleoclimates enables us to improve and better constrain climate models in order to forecast future climate variations marine isotope stage 11 mis11 which began around 425 000 yr bp and lasted about 65 000 yr is a warm isotope stage of paramount importance because the astronomical configuration was similar to the one characterizing the holocene therefore this warm isotope stage is the most appropriate analog to present day climate known to date this study aims to provide new data on sea surface temperatures ssts inferred from the carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of skeletal carbonates of marine invertebrates preserved in two marine deposits of the canary islands located at piedra alta lanzarote and arucas gran canaria according to published isotopic fractionation equations the marine deposit from arucas recorded ssts of 15 9 2 2 c on average while the tsunamite from piedra alta recorded ssts of 21 2 1 9 c on average absolute dating mollusc assemblages and calculated marine temperatures suggest that the arucas marine deposit corresponds to the beginning of mis11 while the piedra alta tsunamite was formed during mis11c these results show that low latitudes also experienced sizable sst changes during interglacial stages

links between eastern equatorial pacific stratification and atmospheric co2 rise during the last deglaciation it is difficult to untangle the mixed influences of high and low latitude climate forcing in the eastern equatorial pacific eep here we test the hypothesis that the southern ocean drove change in the eep via subsurface intermediate waters during the last deglaciation we use the 18o signature of benthic foraminifera to reconstruct water density changes during the last 25 kyr at three intermediate water depths 370 m 600 m and 1000 m in the eep carbonate 18o records a combined signature of temperature and salinity and is therefore more closely related to density than temperature or salinity alone we find that benthic foraminiferal 18o values decreased first in the subsurface simultaneously with rising temperatures over antarctica and propagated up to the surface within 3 kyr the early subsurface response initiated a rapid decrease in density stratification over the upper water column as indicated by reduced 18o gradients between surface and intermediate depths stratification of the upper water column remained low through the termination with stratification minima reached during heinrich stadial 1 and the younger dryas yd synchronous with the two part deglacial rise in atmospheric co2 centennial scale shifts toward heavier 18o signatures at 370 and 600 m during the yd indicate short lived shifts in the subantarctic mode water antarctic intermediate water boundary to shallower intermediate depths we suggest that decreased density gradients during the deglaciation accelerated vertical mixing across the eep and potentially the entire south pacific subtropical gyre which enhanced co2 delivery from depth to the surface ocean and atmosphere

el nino like pattern in the pacific during marine isotope stages mis 13 and 11 1 paleoceanographic evidence from midlatitudes bearing on the long term development of pacific ocean surface circulation through the middle and late pleistocene is scant because of a lack of marine paleorecords exceeding the last four or five glacial cycles here we compare benthic and planktonic foraminiferal stable carbon isotope data from a 1 myr marine record in the southeastern subtropical pacific with records from the equatorial pacific and southern ocean in order to reconstruct sea surface circulation in this part of the world ocean and its possible link to the el nino southern oscillation enso we especially address marine isotope stages mis 13 and 11 when internal climate dynamics are suggested to produce somewhat unusual interglacial periods our results show that the southern ocean controlled the circulation in the subtropical pacific throughout the middle and late pleistocene and that the hitherto existing hypotheses cannot explain the peak 13c values in both mis 13 and 11 we argue that the surface circulation pattern in the southeast pacific during mis 13 and 11 should have differed from any other interglacial and we suggest that the subsequent changes in the latitudinal and meridional heat and moisture transfer contributed to the unusual paleoceanographic settings during these stages we further hypothesize unusually strong el nino like conditions during mis 13 and 11 this hypothesis if true challenges a direct forcing of enso by orbital parameters

surface circulation and fronts of the south pacific ocean east of 120 w the south pacific surface circulation east of 120 w is studied using satellite tracked drifters from 1979 2004 the major currents of this region are described such as the antarctic circumpolar the south pacific the chile peru and the cape horn currents we suggest the presence of a branch exiting from the acc between 100 120 w and transporting subantarctic surface water toward lower latitudes we also show the existence of an anticyclonic recirculation cell north of 35 s finally based on hydrographic sections we show that in the eastern south pacific the core of the subtropical front corresponds to the 14 c isotherm at 150 m depths and to the 2 7 m of dynamic height relative to 3000 m the subantarctic front is located by maximum temperature gradients in the range 3 8 c at 100 400 m depth

variability of unusual distributions of alkenones in the surface waters of the nordic seas 1 samples of filtered particulate organic matter pom were obtained during the summers of 1999 and 2000 from the surface waters of the nordic seas to monitor the spatial distribution of long chain alkenones the aim of the study was to appraise existing alkenone based climatic proxies in northern high latitudes unusually high percentages of the tetraunsaturated alkenone were measured in the polar waters of the east greenland current with c37 4 of up to 77 in 80 of sea ice cover values of percent c37 4 across the nordic seas showed a strong association with water mass type analysis of coccoliths in filters indicated that calcified emiliania huxleyi could not be discounted as the biological precursor of alkenones in all the water masses a combined data set of 69 samples of pom revealed a stronger correlation of percent c37 4 to sea surface salinity sss r2 0 72 than to sea surface temperature sst r2 0 50 values of percent c37 4 in sea surface pom were much higher than those in surficial sediments of the northern north atlantic to explain the discrepancy in sedimentary and surface water column percent c37 4 we propose that the alkenone contents in surface sediments underlying arctic and polar waters are a combination of autochthonous and allochthonous inputs of alkenones our results show that percent c37 4 can be used to reconstruct the relative extension of arctic polar water masses in the north atlantic however the results prevent confirmation of percent c37 4 as a paleo sss proxy in the nordic seas given its multivariate nature in our data set and the decoupling between its range of values in surface waters and sediments

atlantic core top calibration of the u37k index as a sea surface palaeotemperature indicator abstract a field calibration of the uk index with sea surface temperature is discussed through analysis of an extensive suite of surface sediments n 109 from the northeastern atlantic 2 s 75 n values of u 37 k are compared with sea surface temperatures for overlying waters measured at different depths and seasons to obtain a correlation suitable for palaeotemperature reconstructions the best fit is obtained using surface 0 m temperatures corresponding to caloric winter and autumn months however the annual average spring and summer surface temperature equations also have high correlation coefficients and are also appropriate for climatic studies the results further validate the general applicability of the u 37 k as a climatic proxy because the calibration equations are valid over a wide range of surface water temperatures 0 28 c for different algal populations and are representative of the average contribution of alkenones to sediments as found in sediment cores

changes in the advection of antarctic intermediate water to the northern chilean coast during the last 970 kyr 1 the antarctic intermediate water aaiw is a key player in global scale oceanic overturning processes and an important conduit for heat fresh water and carbon transport the aaiw past variability is poorly understood mainly due to the lack of sedimentary archives at intermediate water depths we present records of benthic stable isotopes from sediments retrieved with the seafloor drill rig marum mebo at 956 m water depth off northern chile geob15016 27 29 48 s 71 07 58 w that extend back to 970 ka the sediments at this site are presently deposited at the boundary between aaiw and pacific deep water pdw for previous peak interglacials our results reveal similar benthic 13c values at site geob15016 and of a newly generated stack of benthic 13c from various deep pacific cores representing the average pdw this suggests unlike today the absence of aaiw at the site and the presence of nearly pure pdw in contrast more positive 13c values at site geob15016 compared to the stack imply a considerable aaiw contribution during cold phases of interglacials and especially during glacials besides we used three short sediment cores to reconstruct benthic 13c values from the aaiw core during the last glacial and found a 13c signature similar to today s assuming that this was the case also for the past 970 kyr we demonstrate that sea level changes and latitudinal migrations of the aaiw formation site can only account for about 50 of the full range of past 13c increases at site geob15016 during cold periods other processes that could explain the remaining of the positive 13c anomalies are increases in glacial aaiw production and or deeper convection of the aaiw with respect to preceding interglacials

sea surface temperature variability in the pacific sector of the southern ocean over the past 700 kyr 1 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 37values 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 18o 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

evolution of the stable carbon isotope composition of atmospheric co2 over the last glacial cycle we present new c measurements of atmospheric co covering the last glacial interglacial cycle complementing previous records covering terminations i and ii most prominent in the new record is a significant depletion in c atm of 0 5 occurring during marine isotope stage mis 4 followed by an enrichment of the same magnitude at the beginning of mis 3 such a significant excursion in the record is otherwise only observed at glacial terminations suggesting that similar processes were at play such as changing sea surface temperatures changes in marine biological export in the southern ocean so due to variations in aeolian iron fluxes changes in the atlantic meridional overturning circulation upwelling of deep water in the so and long term trends in terrestrial carbon storage based on previous modeling studies we propose constraints on some of these processes during specific time intervals the decrease in c atm at the end of mis 4 starting approximately 64 kyr b p was accompanied by increasing co this period is also marked by a decrease in aeolian iron flux to the so followed by an increase in so upwelling during heinrich event 6 indicating that it is likely that a large amount of c depleted carbon was transferred to the deep oceans previously i e at the onset of mis 4 apart from the upwelling event at the end of mis 4 and potentially smaller events during heinrich events in mis 3 upwelling of deep water in the so remained reduced until the last glacial termination whereupon a second pulse of isotopically light carbon was released into the atmosphere

a biomarker perspective on dust productivity and sea surface temperature in the pacific sector of the southern ocean abstract in this study we present a new multiproxy data set of terrigenous input marine productivity and sea surface temperature sst from 52 surface sediment samples collected along e w transects in the pacific sector of the southern ocean allochthonous terrigenous input was characterized by the distribution of plant wax n alkanes and soil derived branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers brgdgts 230th normalized burial of both compound groups were highest close to the potential sources in australia and new zealand and are strongly related to lithogenic contents 232th indicating common sources and transport detection of both long chain n alkanes and brgdgts at the most remote sites in the open ocean strongly suggests a primarily eolian transport mechanism to at least 110 w i e by prevailing westerly winds two independent organic sst proxies were used the u 37 k based on alkenones and the tex86 based on isoprenoid gdgts both u 37 k and tex86 indices show robust relationships with temperature over a temperature range between 0 5 and 20 c likely implying different seasonal and regional imprints on the temperature signal alkenone based temperature estimates best reflect modern summer sst in the study area when using the polar calibration of sikes et al 1997 in contrast tex86 derived temperatures may reflect a subsurface signal rather than surface 230th normalized burial of alkenones is highest close to the subtropical front and is positively related to the deposition of lithogenic material throughout the study area in contrast highest isogdgt burial south of the antarctic polar front may be largely controlled by diatom blooms and thus high opal fluxes during austral summer

late quaternary environmental changes and latitudinal shifts of the antarctic circumpolar current as recorded by dinoflagellate cysts from offshore chile 41 s abstract the late quaternary organic walled dinoflagellate cyst record of site 1233 41 s offshore chile was studied with a 200 year resolution spanning the last 25 000 years the study provides the first continuous record of sub recent and recent dinoflagellate cysts in the southeast se pacific major changes in the composition of the cyst association cyst concentration and morphology of operculodinium centrocarpum reflect changes in sea surface temperature sst sea surface salinity sss palaeoproductivity and upwelling intensity these changes can be associated with latitudinal shifts of the circumpolar frontal systems the high cyst concentration high brigantedinium spp abundances low species diversity and the occurrence of certain cold water species are supportive for a 7 10 equatorward shift of the antarctic circumpolar current acc during the coldest phase of the last glacial maximum lgm between 25 and 21 1 cal ka bp deglacial warming initiated at 18 6 cal ka bp termination i 18 6 11 1 cal ka bp is interrupted by an unstable period of extreme seasonality rather than a cooling event between 14 4 and 13 2 cal ka bp synchronous with the antarctic cold reversal acr the holocene maximum is observed between 11 6 and 9 8 cal ka bp and is typified by the most southward position of the northern margin of the acc a cooling phase occurred during the early holocene until 7 cal ka bp and during the last 0 8 ka our data indicates that the se pacific 41 s climate has been influenced over the whole record by changes in the southern hemisphere sh high latitudes while during the mid to late holocene also a tropical forcing mechanism was involved including the el nino southern oscillation and the variable hadley cell intensity furthermore this study showed a relationship between the variable morphology of the spines processes of o centrocarpum and the combined variation of sea surface salinity and temperature sss sst ratio

subpolar link to the emergence of the modern equatorial pacific cold tongue the cold upwelling tongue of the eastern equatorial pacific is a central energetic feature of the ocean dominating both the mean state and temporal variability of climate in the tropics and beyond recent evidence for the development of the modern cold tongue during the pliocene pleistocene transition has been explained as the result of extratropical cooling that drove a shoaling of the thermocline we have found that the sub antarctic and sub arctic regions underwent substantial cooling nearly synchronous to the cold tongue development thereby providing support for this hypothesis in addition we show that sub antarctic climate changed in its response to earth s orbital variations from a subtropical to a subpolar pattern as expected if cooling shrank the warm water sphere of the ocean and thus contracted the subtropical gyres

antarctic timing of surface water changes off chile and patagonian ice sheet response marine sediments from the chilean continental margin are used to infer millennial scale changes in southeast pacific surface ocean water properties and patagonian ice sheet extent since the last glacial period our data show a clear antarctic timing of sea surface temperature changes which appear systematically linked to meridional displacements in sea ice westerly winds and the circumpolar current system proxy data for ice sheet changes show a similar pattern as oceanographic variations offshore but reveal a variable glacier response time of up to 1000 years which may explain some of the current discrepancies among terrestrial records in southern south america

last glacial holocene climate variability in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean abstract the southern ocean plays a major role in the glacial interglacial global carbon cycle however there is a substantial lack of information from its antarctic zone south of the polar front pf to understand key climate processes e g sea ice variability productivity changes co2 source region shifts of the southern westerly wind active in this region during the glacial interglacial transition due to the limited high resolution sediment records from this area to close this gap we investigated high resolution diatom records from a series of sediment cores from the atlantic and western indian sectors of the southern ocean between the modern pf and the winter sea ice wsi edge summer sea surface temperature ssst and sea ice information spanning the past 30 thousand years were derived from diatom transfer functions and indicators which augment comprehensive information on past surface ocean conditions and related ocean and atmospheric circulation as well as opal deposition these complementary lines of evidences also provide important environmental boundary conditions for climate simulations understanding the past climate development in the high latitudes southern ocean our reconstructions show that the last glacial lg sssts south of the modern pf are 1 3 c colder than modern conditions wsi expanded to the modern pf our data suggests effective carbon export in the antarctic zone during the lg deglacial two steps of warming support the bipolar seesaw mechanism antarctic zone is an important source region for the co2 deglacial increase the warming was more suppressed towards south due to continuous ice discharge from antarctica the sssts exceeded modern values during the early holocene optimum when wsi extent probably retreated south of its modern position the southern boundary of maximum opal deposition zone may have shifted to south of 55 s in the bouvet island area at this time the mid late holocene cooling with wsi re expanding to the bouvet island area probably related to enhanced cold water export by the weddell gyre from the developing cavity under the west antarctic ice shelf the cooling also suggests a northward shift of the southern westerly wind at least its southern boundary

disparities in glacial advection of southern ocean intermediate water to the south pacific gyre highlights surface mg ca temperatures and salinities show comparable glacial conditions subsurface mg ca temperatures suggest that lgm is 3 to 2 c colder than mis 6 relative to holocene subsurface salinities suggest fresher lgm and saltier mis 6 thermal gradients suggest stratified lgm and well mixed mis 6 water column contrasting glacial scenarios suggest variable formation and advection of soiws abstract the intermediate waters formed in the southern ocean are critical for ventilating the thermocline in the southern hemisphere gyres and transporting climatic signals from high to low latitudes on glacial interglacial time scales despite the importance of the southern ocean intermediate waters soiws information on past changes in soiws formation is fragmentary and its impact on the south pacific gyre spg s thermocline largely unknown here we present a 200 kyr record of paired mg ca ratios and stable oxygen isotope from surface and deep dwelling planktonic foraminifera from the spg on average the globigerina bulloides mg ca derived sea surface temperatures show similar conditions during the lgm and marine isotope stage mis 6 9 4 c versus 9 8 c in contrast the subsurface temperatures derived from the mg ca values of globorotalia inflata and globorotalia truncatulinoides suggest that lgm is 3 to 2 c colder than mis 6 furthermore at subsurface depths the reconstructed 18osw ivc record proxy for relative local salinity changes suggests opposite glacial conditions with slightly saltier than holocene waters during mis 6 and fresher than holocene waters during lgm contrasting glacial scenarios plausibly due to changes in the presence of soiws at the study site suggest variable formation and or advection of soiws to the spg during different glacial stages the variability in soiws is probably driven by the changes in the intensity of the southern westerly winds

a 70 kyr sea surface temperature record off southern chile ocean drilling program site 1233 1 we present the first high resolution alkenone derived sea surface temperature sst reconstruction in the southeast pacific ocean drilling program site 1233 covering the major part of the last glacial period and the holocene the record shows a clear millennial scale pattern that is very similar to climate fluctuations observed in antarctic ice cores suggesting that the southern hemisphere high latitude climate changes extended into the midlatitudes involving simultaneous changes in air temperatures over antarctica sea ice extent extension of the antarctic circumpolar current and westerly atmospheric circulation a comparison to other midlatitude surface ocean records suggests that this antarctic millennial scale pattern was probably a hemisphere wide phenomenon in addition we performed sst gradient reconstructions over the complete latitudinal range of the pacific eastern boundary current system for different time intervals during the last 70 kyr the main results suggest an equatorward displaced subtropical gyre circulation during marine isotope stages 2 and 4

distributions of uk37 and uk37 in the surface waters and sediments of the nordic seas implications for paleoceanography in this paper we revise the application of the u and u indices as sea surface temperature sst proxies in the nordic seas in the summer of 1999 and 2000 we obtained samples of filtered particulate organic matter pom from surface waters 6 m depth of the nordic seas a number of samples were collected from polar waters with up to 80 of sea ice cover alkenones were detected in all of the major water masses of the nordic seas across a spectrum of sst values from 0 5 to 13 c and sss values from 29 6 to 35 6 psu concentrations of alkenones were similar in magnitude to those reported previously for the north atlantic and the southern ocean values of u from the new nordic seas pom data show no correlation with sst below 8 c in contrast below this temperature a linear correlation exists between u and regional sst supporting previous suggestions that overall u may be a more appropriate sst index for the region it must be noted however that u is calculated using the tetraunsaturated alkenone and the dominant control on this compound is not yet fully understood the new data highlight major differences between distributions of u and u in the water column pom and surficial sediments of the nordic seas we also examine the geographical dependence of the u versus sst relationship in the region s surficial sediments some areas are associated with unreliable sst estimates whereas in others the u versus sst relationship falls within the range of a global core top calibration it is suggested that the breakdown of the u sst relationship in some regions is due to ecological and sedimentological factors the latter relates to the extension of the habitats of alkenone producers in polar waters the former to the resuspension of sediments and laterally transported alkenone inputs this suggests that accurate alkenone derived sst estimates in the nordic seas are geographically constrained

nutrient regime at the siliceous belt of the atlantic sector of the southern ocean during the past 660 ka 1 sediment cores from ocean drilling program sites 1094 and 1093 hold the most extensive and most detailed records of carbon and nitrogen isotopes of diatom bound organic matter in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean over the past 660 ka these records were combined with summer sea surface temperatures and winter sea ice that were deduced from diatom transfer functions to reconstruct the nutrient regime at the northern and southern boundaries of the siliceous belt at latitudes 53 s and 50 s respectively the strong coupling between carbon and nitrogen isotope records at site 1093 suggests that the diatom productivity was influenced mainly by changes in nutrient availability the anticorrelation between the carbon and nitrogen isotopes at site 1094 suggests that the diatom productivity was closely linked to global temperature changes sea ice coverage and dissolved co2 concentration a detailed comparison of the nitrogen isotope records between the two sites shows three time intervals that represent different nutrient regimes the nutrients at site 1093 which is close to the polar front were dominated by eddies and meanders that sustained relatively high productivity at times of stratification or reduced ventilation whereas at site 1094 the nutrients were influenced by ventilation processes

new evidence for changes in plio pleistocene deep water circulation from southern ocean odp leg 177 site 1090 abstract changes in atlantic deep water circulation were reconstructed by comparing the benthic foraminiferal 13c record at odp site 1090 in the south atlantic with similar records from the north atlantic sites 982 607 925 929 and deep pacific site 849 oceans important deep water circulation changes occurred in the early pleistocene at 1 55 myr and during the mid pleistocene transition at 0 9 myr at 1 55 myr glacial 13c values in the southern ocean became significantly lower than those in the deep pacific establishing a pattern that persisted throughout the late pleistocene we propose that the lowering of 13c values of southern component water scw at this time resulted from expansion of sea ice and reduced ventilation of deep water during glacial periods after marine isotope stage 52 accompanying this change in southern ocean deep water circulation was enhanced interhemispheric coupling between the north and south atlantic after 1 55 myr at 0 9 myr the magnitude of glacial to interglacial variability in 13c increased and shifted to a longer frequency 100 kyr along with oceanic 18o ice volume calculation of percent northern component water ncw using site 1090 as the scw end member yielded 20 30 less reduction of ncw during glacial periods of the late pleistocene also a trend toward reduced glacial suppression of ncw during the past 400 kyr is not evident the apparent decoupling of ice volume and deep water circulation reported previously may be an artifact of using a pacific rather than a southern ocean carbon isotopic record to calculate past mixing ratios of ncw and scw

precession modulation of the south pacific westerly wind belt over the past million years the southern westerly wind belt sww interacts with the antarctic circumpolar current and strongly impacts the southern ocean carbon budget and antarctic ice sheet dynamics across glacial interglacial cycles we investigated precipitation driven sediment input changes to the southeast pacific off the southern margin of the atacama desert over the past one million years revealing strong precession 19 23 ka cycles our simulations with 2 ocean atmosphere general circulation models suggest that observed cyclic rainfall changes are linked to meridional shifts in water vapor transport from the tropical pacific toward the southern atacama desert these changes reflect a precessional modulation of the split in the austral winter south pacific jet stream for precession maxima we infer significantly enhanced rainfall in the southern atacama desert due to a stronger south pacific split jet with enhanced subtropical subpolar jets and a weaker midlatitude jet conversely we derive dry conditions in northern chile related to reduced subtropical subpolar jets and an enhanced midlatitude jet for precession minima the presence of precessional cycles in the pacific sww and lack thereof in other basins indicate that orbital scale changes of the sww were not zonally homogeneous across the southern hemisphere in contrast to the hemispherewide shifts of the sww suggested for glacial terminations the strengthening of the jet is unique to the south pacific realm and might have affected winter controlled changes in the mixed layer depth the formation of intermediate water and the buildup of sea ice around antarctica with implications for the global overturning circulation and the oceanic storage of atmospheric co2

deep south atlantic carbonate chemistry and increased interocean deep water exchange during last deglaciation abstract carbon release from the deep ocean at glacial terminations is a critical component of past climate change but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood we present a 28 000 year high resolution record of carbonate ion concentration a key parameter of the global carbon cycle at 5 km water depth in the south atlantic we observe similar carbonate ion concentrations between the last glacial maximum and the late holocene despite elevated concentrations in the glacial surface ocean this strongly supports the importance of respiratory carbon accumulation in a stratified deep ocean for atmospheric co 2 reduction during the last ice age after 9 mol kg decline during heinrich stadial 1 deep south atlantic carbonate ion concentration rose by 24 mol kg from the onset of bolling to pre boreal likely caused by strengthening north atlantic deep water formation bolling or increased ventilation in the southern ocean younger drays or both pre boreal the 15 mol kg decline in deep water carbonate ion since 10 ka is consistent with extraction of alkalinity from seawater by deep sea caco 3 compensation and coral reef growth on continental shelves during the holocene between 16 600 and 15 000 years ago deep south atlantic carbonate ion values converged with those at 3 4 km water depth in the western equatorial pacific as did carbon isotope and radiocarbon values these observations suggest a period of enhanced lateral exchange of carbon between the deep south atlantic and pacific oceans probably due to an increased transfer of momentum from southern westerlies to the southern ocean by spreading carbon rich deep pacific waters around antarctica for upwelling invigorated interocean deep water exchange would lead to more efficient co 2 degassing from the southern ocean and thus to an atmospheric co 2 rise during the early deglaciation

a 0 55 ma paleotemperature record from the subantarctic zone implications for antarctic circumpolar current development 1 estimates of summer sea surface temperatures sssts derived from planktic foraminiferal associations using the modern analog technique and combined with isotopic analyses and determination of ice rafted debris mirror the pleistocene evolution of the planktic subantarctic surface waters in the atlantic ocean the sssts indicate that the isotherms that define the modern polar front zone and subantarctic front were located at more northerly latitudes up to 7 during most of the investigated period which covers the past 550 kyr exceptions are during climatic optima in the early holocene at marine isotope stages mis 5 5 7 1 7 5 9 3 and presumably during mis 11 3 when sssts exceeded modern values by 1 5 c the close similarity between the ssst and the vostok temperature indicates strong regional temperature correlation both records show that mis 9 3 was the warmest period during the last 420 kyr whereas sssts obtained for mis 11 3 are overestimated due to strong carbonate dissolution spectral analysis corroborates that the initiation of warming in southern high latitudes heralds the start of deglaciation on the northern hemisphere

comparing proxies for the reconstruction of lgm sea surface conditions in the northern north atlantic abstract within the frame of the multiproxy approach for the reconstruction of the glacial ocean margo project sea surface conditions of the last glacial maximum lgm 23 19 ka were reconstructed using different proxies which were calibrated to a standardized modern hydrography in the north atlantic the revised lgm margo data set provides a comprehensive coverage including the nordic seas the data set includes reconstruction based on planktonic foraminifer assemblages dinocyst assemblages alkenone coccolithophorid biomarkers and mg ca ratios in planktonic foraminifers several hydrological features of the lgm north atlantic can be identified that are supported by all four proxies they include an extensive perennial sea ice cover along the eastern canadian and greenland margins seasonally ice free central north atlantic and norwegian sea and the winter sea ice limit being located at about 55 n all proxies also suggest significantly colder than modern sea surface conditions in the southeastern part of the north atlantic and a more zonal temperature pattern than at present with a steep sst gradient of the order of 10 c between 40 n and 45 n however in the nordic seas large discrepancies remain well above the level of uncertainty of the sst reconstructions these discrepancies might be related to stratification of the upper water mass linked to large annual amplitude of temperature with contrasting winter and summer conditions high interannual interdecadal variability or taphonomic processes affecting some of the proxies the average lgm sst in the nordic seas cannot at present be assessed with confidence however the existing evidence suggests that highly variable sea surface conditions and at least occasional advection of north atlantic waters may have characterised the glacial nordic seas

global temperature calibration of the alkenone unsaturation index uk 37 in surface waters and comparison with surface sediments in this paper we compile the current surface seawater c37 alkenone unsaturation uk 37 measurements n 629 1 to 30 c temperature range to derive a global field based calibration of uk 37 with alkenone production temperature a single nonlinear global surface water calibration of uk 37 accurately predicts alkenone production temperatures over the diversity of modern day oceanic environments and alkenone synthesizing populations t 0 957 54 293 uk 37 52 894 uk 37 2 28 321 uk 37 3 r2 0 97 n 567 the mean standard error of estimation is 1 2 c with insignificant bias in estimated production temperature among the different ocean regions sampled an exception to these trends is regions characterized by strong lateral advection and extreme productivity and temperature gradients e g the brazil malvinas confluence in contrast to the surface water data the calibration of uk 37 in surface sediments with overlying annual mean sea surface temperature anno is best fit by a linear model anno 29 876 uk 37 1 334 r2 0 97 n 592 the standard error of estimation 1 1 c is similar to that of the surface water production calibration but a higher degree of bias is observed among the regional data sets the sediment calibration differs significantly from the surface water calibration uk 37 in surface sediments is consistently higher than that predicted from anno and the surface water production temperature calibration and the magnitude of the offset increases as the surface water anno decreases we apply the global production temperature calibration to the coretop uk 37 data to estimate the coretop alkenone integrated production temperature coretop ipt and compare this with the overlying annual mean sea surface temperature anno we use simple models to explore the possible causes of the deviation observed between the coretop temperature signal as estimated by uk 37 and anno our results indicate that the deviation can best be explained if seasonality in production and or thermocline production as well as differential degradation of 37 3 and 37 2 alkenones both affect the sedimentary alkenone signal

alkenones and alkenes in surface waters and sediments of the southern ocean implications for paleotemperature estimation in polar regions abstract the concentration of c37 c39 long chain alkenones and alkenes were determined in surface water and surface sediment samples from the subpolar waters of the southern ocean distributions of these compounds were similar in both sample sets indicating little differential degradation between or within compound classes the relative amounts of the tri to tetra unsaturated c37 alkenones increased with increasing temperature for temperatures below 6 c similar to the di and tri unsaturated c37 alkenones the c37 di tri and tetra unsaturated methyl alkenones are used in paleotemperature calculations via the u37k and the u37k ratios in these datasets the relative abundances of the c37 2 and the c37 3 alkenones as a proportion of the total c37 alkenones were opposite and strongly related to temperature the latter with more scatter but the abundance of the c37 4 alkenone showed no relationship with temperature the original definition of u37k includes the abundance of 37 4 in both the numerator and denominator and thus it is perhaps not surprising that there is considerable scatter in the values obtained for u37k at low temperatures of the two we suggest that u37k is the better parameter for use in paleotemperature estimations even in cold locations u37k values in the sediments fall on virtually the same regression line obtained for the water column samples of sikes and volkman 1993 indicating that their calibration is suitable for use in southern ocean sediments the comparison of water column data with sedimentary temperature estimates suggests that the alkenone distributions are dominated by contributions from the summer when the biomass of emiliania huxleyi and presumably flux to the sediment is expected to be high

latitudinal and downcore 0 750 ka changes in n alkane chain lengths in the eastern equatorial pacific abstract the n alkane c 31 c 29 c 31 ratios from surface sediments in the eastern equatorial pacific eep exhibit higher values to the north and lower values to the south across the southern edge 2 4 n of the intertropical convergence zone itcz since plants tend to synthesize longer chain length n alkanes in response to elevated temperature and or aridity the higher c 31 c 29 c 31 ratios at northern sites suggest a higher contribution of vegetation under hot and or dry conditions this is consistent with the observation that northern sites receive higher levels of plant waxes transported by northeasterly trade winds from northern south america where hot and dry conditions prevail furthermore from a sediment core covering the past 750 ka core hy04 4 n 95 w we found that c 31 c 29 c 31 ratios exhibit a long term decrease from mis marine oxygen isotope stage 17 to 13 during this period the zonal sst sea surface temperature gradient in the equatorial pacific increased suggesting an increase in walker circulation such intensified walker circulation may have enhanced moisture advection from the equatorial atlantic warm pool to the adjacent northern south america causing arid regions in northern south america to contract which may explain long term decrease in n alkane chain lengths

glacial differences of southern ocean intermediate waters in the central south pacific abstract southern ocean intermediate waters soiws such as antarctic intermediate water and subantarctic mode water play a key role in modulating the global climate on glacial interglacial time scales they link the southern ocean and the tropics via mechanisms such as oceanic tunneling that transport climatic signals across latitudes despite their importance the past evolution of the soiws in the central south pacific is largely unknown here we compare paired mg ca temperature stable carbon 13c and oxygen 18o isotope records from surface dwelling and deep dwelling planktic foraminifera to infer changes in the water column structure for the last 260 ka in the central south pacific 54 s our study focuses on the subsurface oceanographic variability controlled by soiws which are subducted at the subantarctic front our data show that the subsurface ocean in the central south pacific was colder and fresher during glacial stages than during the holocene 0 10 ka bp suggesting a general glacial enhanced presence of antarctic intermediate water in agreement with previous studies from the eastern equatorial pacific and the southeast pacific however the subsurface ocean salinity differs for both glacial stages with fresher condition during the last glacial maximum lgm 26 5 19 ka bp and more saline condition during the penultimate glacial maximum pgm 155 140 ka bp the 13c data also show contrasting conditions for both glacial time windows in the upper water column with a large depletion of 0 37 in 13c from the lgm values suggests a larger contribution of old low 13c deep waters at intermediate depths at the study site during the pgm plausibly due to stronger upwelling in high southern latitudes the dissimilar scenarios between the lgm and the pgm may have been caused by processes that are analogous to the phase switch in modern day southern annular mode

past hydrographic and climatic changes in the subantarctic zone of the south atlantic the pleistocene record from odp site 1090 abstract pleistocene summer sea surface temperatures ssst have been reconstructed on a composite core section recovered in the subantarctic zone of the southern ocean from planktonic foraminifers applying the modern analog technique the composite consists of core ps2489 2 and the sections recovered at odp site 1090 and documents the last 1 83 ma three distinct climatic periods can be identified that mirror the pleistocene development of the southern ocean hydrography cold climatic conditions prevailed at 43 s during glacial as well as during interglacial periods during the early pleistocene 1 83 0 87 ma indicating a northward shift of isotherms that characterize the present day polar front zone by about 7 of latitude evidence shows a strong linkage between southern ocean and low latitude climate during that interval time between the mid pleistocene revolution ca 0 9 ma and the mid brunhes event ca 0 4 ma we observe higher amplitude fluctuations in the ssst between glacial and interglacial periods corresponding to the temperature range between the present polar front and subantarctic front these climatic variations have been related to changes in the northern hemisphere ice sheets the past 0 4 ma are characterized by strong ssst variations of up to 8 c between glacials and interglacials only during the climatic optima stages 11 3 9 3 7 5 7 1 5 5 and the early holocene ssst exceeded present ssst at the core locality 10 2 c although the carbonate dissolution record exhibits high variability during the pleistocene it can be shown that ssst estimates were not significantly biased the mid brunhes dissolution cycle as well as the mid pleistocene enhanced carbonate preservation appear to belong to a global long term variability in carbonate preservation

transport and variability of the antarctic circumpolar current in drake passage the baroclinic transport of the antarctic circumpolar current acc above 3000 m through drake passage is 107 3 10 4 sv and has been steady between 1975 and 2000 for six hydrographic sections 1993 2000 along the world ocean circulation experiment woce line sr1b the baroclinic transport relative to the deepest common level is 136 7 7 8 sv the acc transport is carried in two jets the subantarctic front 53 10 sv and the polar front pf 57 5 5 7 sv southward of the acc the southern antarctic circumpolar current transports 9 3 2 4 sv we observe the pf at two latitudes separated by 90 km this bimodal distribution is related to changes in the circulation and properties of antarctic bottom water three realizations of the instantaneous velocity field were obtained with lowered adcps from these observations we obtain near bottom reference velocities for transport calculations net transport due to these reference velocities ranges from 28 to 43 sv consistent with previous estimates of variability the transport in density layers shows systematic variations due to seasonal heating in near surface layers volume transport weighted mean temperatures vary by 0 40 c from spring to summer a seasonal variation in heat flux of about 0 22 pw finally we review a series of papers from the international southern ocean studies program the average yearlong absolute transport is 134 sv and the standard deviation of the average is 11 2 sv the error of the average transport is 15 to 27 sv we emphasize that baroclinic variability is an important contribution to net variability in the acc

the role of southern ocean processes in orbital and millennial co2 variations a synthesis abstract recent progress in the reconstruction of atmospheric co 2 records from antarctic ice cores has allowed for the documentation of natural co 2 variations on orbital time scales over the last up to 800 000 years and for the resolution of millennial co 2 variations during the last glacial cycle in unprecedented detail this has shown that atmospheric co 2 varied within natural bounds of approximately 170 300 ppmv but never reached recent co 2 concentrations caused by anthropogenic co 2 emissions in addition the natural atmospheric co 2 concentrations show an extraordinary correlation with southern ocean climate changes pointing to a significant direct or indirect influence of climatic and environmental changes in the southern ocean region on atmospheric co 2 concentrations here we compile recent ice core and marine sediment records of atmospheric co 2 temperature and environmental changes in the southern ocean region as well as carbon cycle model experiments in order to quantify the effect of potential southern ocean processes on atmospheric co 2 related to these orbital and millennial changes this shows that physical and biological changes in the so are able to explain substantial parts of the glacial interglacial co 2 change but that none of the single processes is able to explain this change by itself in particular changes in the southern ocean related to changes in the surface buoyancy flux which in return is controlled by the waxing and waning of sea ice may favorably explain the high correlation of co 2 and antarctic temperature on orbital and millennial time scales in contrast the changes of the position and strength of the westerly wind field were most likely too small to explain the observed changes in atmospheric co 2 or may even have increased atmospheric co 2 in the glacial also iron fertilization of the marine biota in the southern ocean contributes to a glacial drawdown of co 2 but turns out to be limited by other factors than the total dust input such as bioavailability of iron or macronutrient supply

molecular stratigraphy a new tool for climatic assessment variations in sea surface temperatures over the past 500 000 years are inferred from the relative abundance behaviour of two organic compounds c37 alkenones over the upper 8 metres of a sediment core from the eastern equatorial atlantic this molecular record ascribed to contributions from prymnesiophyte algae correlates well with the variations in the 18 signal for the calcareous skeletons of certain planktonic foraminifera thus providing the first demonstration of a new stratigraphical technique which may be especially valuable where methods based on carbonate 18 fail

southern hemisphere westerly wind changes during the last glacial maximum paleo data synthesis changes in the strength and position of southern hemisphere westerly winds during the last glacial cycle have been invoked to explain both millennial and glacial interglacial climate fluctuations however neither paleo models nor paleodata agree on the magnitude or even the sign of the change in wind strength and latitude during the most studied glacial period the last glacial maximum lgm compared to the recent past this paper synthesizes paleo environmental data that have been used to infer changes in lgm winds data compilations are provided for changes in terrestrial moisture dust deposition sea surface temperatures and ocean fronts and ocean productivity and existing data on southern hemisphere ocean circulation changes during the lgm are summarized we find that any hypothesis of lgm wind and climate change needs to provide a plausible explanation for increased moisture on the west coast of continents cooler temperatures and higher productivity in the subantarctic zone and reductions in agulhas leakage around southern africa our comparison suggests that an overall strengthening an equatorward displacement or no change at all in winds could all be interpreted as consistent with observations if a single cause related to the southern westerlies is sought for all the evidence presented then an equatorward displacement or strengthening of the winds would be consistent with the largest proportion of the observations however other processes such as weakening or poleward shifts in winds a weakened hydrological cycle extended sea ice cover and changed buoyancy fluxes cannot be ruled out as potential explanations of observed changes in moisture surface temperature and productivity we contend that resolving the position and strength of westerly winds during the lgm remains elusive based on data reconstructions alone however we believe that these data reconstructions of environmental conditions can be used in conjunction with model simulations to identify which processes best represent westerly wind conditions during the lgm

more humid interglacials in ecuador during the past 500 kyr linked to latitudinal shifts of the equatorial front and the intertropical convergence zone in the eastern tropical pacific 1 studying past changes in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean dynamics and their impact on precipitation on land gives us insight into how the intertropical convergence zone itcz movements and the el nino southern oscillation modulate regional and global climate in this study we present a multiproxy record of terrigenous input from marine sediments collected off the ecuadorian coast spanning the last 500 kyr in parallel we estimate sea surface temperatures sst derived from alkenone paleothermometry for the sediments off the ecuadorian coast and complement them with alkenone based sst data from the panama basin to the north in order to investigate sst gradients across the equatorial front near the equator today s river runoff is tightly linked to sst reaching its maximum either during the austral summer when the itcz migrates southward or during el nino events our multiproxy reconstruction of riverine runoff indicates that interglacial periods experienced more humid conditions than the glacial periods the north south sst gradient is systematically steeper during glacial times suggesting a mean background climatic state with a vigorous oceanic cold tongue resembling modern la nina conditions this enhanced north south sst gradient would also imply a glacial northward shift of the intertropical convergence zone at least in vicinity of the cold tongue a pattern that has not yet been reproduced in climate models

planktic foraminiferal and sea surface temperature record during the last 1 myr across the subtropical front southwest pacific planktic foraminiferal faunas and modern analogue technique estimates of sea surface temperature sst for the last 1 million years myr are compared between core sites to the north odp 1125 178 faunas and south dsdp 594 374 faunas of the present location of the subtropical front stf east of new zealand faunas beneath cool subtropical water stw north of the stf are dominated by dextral neogloboquadrina pachyderma globorotalia inflata and globigerina bulloides whereas faunas to the south are strongly dominated by sinistral n pachyderma 80 95 in glacials with increased g bulloides 20 50 and dextral n pachyderma 15 50 in interglacials beneath subantarctic water or saw canonical correspondence analysis indicates that at both sites sst and related factors were the most important environmental influences on faunal composition greater climate related faunal fluctuations occur in the south significant faunal changes occur through time at both sites particularly towards the end of the mid pleistocene climate transition mis18 15 e g decline of globorotalia crassula in stw disappearance of globorotalia puncticulata in saw and during mis8 5 interglacial sst estimates in the north are similar to the present day throughout the last 1 myr to the south interglacial ssts are more variable with peaks 4 7 c cooler than present through much of the early and middle pleistocene but in mis11 mis5 5 and early mis1 peaks are estimated to have been 2 4 c warmer than present these high temperatures are attributed to southward spread of the stf across the submarine chatham rise along which the stf appears to have been dynamically positioned throughout most of the last 1 myr for much of the last 1 myr glacial sst estimates in the north were only 1 2 c cooler than the present interglacial except in mis16 mis8 mis6 and mis4 2 when estimates are 4 7 c cooler these cooler temperatures are attributed to jetting of saw through the mernoo saddle across the chatham rise and or waning of the stw current to the south glacial sst estimates were consistently 10 11 c cooler than present similar to temperatures and faunas currently found in the vicinity of the polar front one interpretation is that these cold temperatures reflect thermocline changes and increased circumpolar surface water spinning off the subantarctic front as an enhanced bounty gyre along the south side of the chatham rise for most of the last 1 myr the temperature gradient across the stf has been considerably greater than the present 4 c during glacial episodes the stf in this region did not migrate northwards but instead there was an intensification of the temperature gradient across it interglacials 4 11 c glacials 8 14 c

interhemispheric appraisal of the value of alkenone indices as temperature and salinity proxies in high latitude locations alkenone sediment data from the nordic seas and north atlantic are compared to those from sikes et al 1997 for the southern ocean to evaluate further uk37 and uk37 as proxies to estimate cold temperatures 10 c and the effect of salinity and temperature in the relative abundance of 37 4 to the total abundance of c37 alkenones 37 4 uk37 and uk37 are found to be equally viable as proxies but there are significant regional differences in their cold temperature dependence the measurement of 37 4 in cores from the north atlantic region can be used to identify situations when uk37 is not a reliable paleothermometer variations in salinity are probably responsible for changes in the sedimentary record of 37 4 and a preliminary calibration has been obtained for 37 4 f salinity this new relationship should be further confirmed through field or laboratory experiments but it paves the way to derive a molecular proxy to reconstruct paleosalinity in surface waters