climate instability during the last interglacial period recorded in the grip ice core isotope and chemical analyses of the grip ice core from summit central greenland reveal that climate in greenland during the last interglacial period was characterized by a series of severe cold periods which began extremely rapidly and lasted from decades to centuries as the last interglacial seems to have been slightly warmer than the present one its unstable climate raises questions about the effects of future global warming

changes in palaeoceanography and palaeoecology during marine isotope stage mis 5 in the eastern north atlantic odp site 980 deduced from calcareous nannoplankton observations abstract calcareous nannoplankton analyses on late quaternary sediments from the eastern north atlantic odp site 980 55 29 n 14 42 w provide detailed insight into palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic changes that occurred throughout the termination ii and the adjacent interglacial of the marine isotope stage mis 5 this study presents the development of the coccolith assemblage throughout the interglacial mis 5 towards the beginning of the glacial mis 4 in the vicinity of the rockall plateau and investigates and characterises the impact of climatic and environmental variations on the coccolith assemblage distribution between 135 and 65 ky in general the coccolith assemblage is dominated by gephyrocapsa muellerae and emiliania huxleyi whilst significant changes in palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic conditions are mainly shown by variations of subordinate species a drastic increase in coccolith accumulation rates and a change from a less to a higher diverse species assemblage indicate a rapid increase in surface water temperatures during the onset of mis 5 from c 127 5 ky on highest coccolith numbers high numbers of taxa and a large diversity indicate highest coccolithophore primary productivity and peak interglacial conditions during mis 5 5 which are due to the high influence of relatively warm surface water to this region coccolith numbers peak again around 120 ky and decline afterwards but stay above glacial levels the two cooling events of mis 5 4 and 5 2 interrupt the generally warm conditions and are indicated by lowered coccolith numbers a drop of thermophile species and a reduction of the species diversity decreasing coccolith numbers and a slightly reduced diversity indicate that environmental conditions deteriorated towards the onset of mis 4 the analysis of the coccolith assemblage reveals that not only the stadial events mis 5 4 and 5 2 are characterised by colder conditions but furthermore confirms the upcoming notion that mis 5 5 was terminated by a slight short term cooling of the surface water which occurred around 124 ky

insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years new values for the astronomical parameters of the earth s orbit and rotation eccentricity obliquity and precession are proposed for paleoclimatic research related to the late miocene the pliocene and the quaternary they have been obtained from a numerical solution of the lagrangian system of the planetary point masses and from an analytical solution of the poisson equations of the earth moon system the analytical expansion allows the direct determination of the main frequencies with their phase and amplitude numerical and analytical comparisons with the former astronomical solution ber78 are performed so that the accuracy and the interval of time over which the new solution is valid can be estimated the corresponding insolation values have also been computed this analysis leads to the conclusion that the new values are expected to be reliable over the last 5 ma in the time domain and at least over the last 10 ma in the frequency domain

organic and carbonate rich soil formation 2 6 billion years ago at schagen east transvaal district south africa abstract a 17 m paleosol sequence at schagen south africa which developed on a serpentinized dunite intrusion in a granite gneiss terrain 2 6 ga ago is characterized by an alternating succession of thick 1 3 m carbonate rich dolomite and calcite zones and silicate rich serpentines talc and quartz zones the upper 8 m section is especially rich in organic c up to 1 4 wt petrologic and geochemical data suggest the upper 8 m section is composed of at least three soil profiles that developed on i silicate rich rock fragments and minerals that were transported from local sources serpentinite and granite by fluvial and or eolian processes and ii dolomite and calcite zones that formed by locally discharged groundwater the mg and fe in the paleosol sequence were largely supplied from local sources mostly serpentinite but the ca sr and hco3 were supplied by groundwater that originated from a surrounding granite gneiss terrain in the uppermost soil profile the fe is retained the fe3 fe2 ratio increases and ferri stilpnomelane is abundant these data suggest the atmospheric po2 was much greater than 10 3 7 atm 0 1 present atmospheric level pal the carbonaceous matter in the soils is intimately associated with clays talc chlorite and ferri stilpnomelane and occurs mostly as seams 20 m to 1 mm thick that parallel the soil horizons these occurrences crystallographic structures h c ratios and 13corg values 17 4 to 14 4 pdb suggest that the carbonaceous matter is a remnant of in situ microbial mats originally 1 to 20 mm thick the microbial mats developed a mostly on soil surfaces during the formation of silicate rich soils and b at the bottom of an evaporating anoxic alkaline pond during the precipitation of the fe rich dolomite these 13corg values are difficult to be explained by a current popular idea of a methane and organic haze rich archean atmosphere pavlov et al 2001 these values however can be easily explained if the microbial mats were composed of cyanobacteria and heterotrophs that utilized the remnants of cyanobacteria in a strongly evaporating environment

changes in meridional temperature and salinity gradients in the north atlantic ocean 30 72 n during the last interglacial period eight deep sea sediment cores from the north atlantic ocean ranging from 31 to 72 n are studied to reconstruct the meridional gradients in surface hydrographic conditions during the interval of minimum ice volume within the last interglacial period using benthic foraminiferal 18o measurements and estimates of sea surface temperature sst and sea surface salinity sss we show that summer ssts and ssss decreased gradually during the interval of minimum ice volume at high latitude sites 52 72 n whereas they were stable or increased during the same time period at low latitude sites 31 41 n this increase in meridional gradients of ssts and ssss may have been due to changes in the latitudinal distribution of summer and annual average insolation and associated oceanic and atmospheric feedbacks these trends documented for the eemian ice volume minimum period are similar to corresponding changes observed during the holocene and may have had a similar origin

last interglacial climates the last interglacial commonly understood as an interval with climate as warm or warmer than today is represented by marine isotope stage mis 5e which is a proxy record of low global ice volume and high sea level it is arbitrarily dated to begin at approximately 130 000 yr b p and end at 116 000 yr b p with the onset of the early glacial unit mis 5d the age of the stage is determined by correlation to uranium thorium dates of raised coral reefs the most detailed proxy record of interglacial climate is found in the vostok ice core where the temperature reached current levels 132 000 yr ago and continued rising for another two millennia approximately 127 000 yr ago the eemian mixed forests were established in europe they developed through a characteristic succession of tree species probably surviving well into the early glacial stage in southern parts of europe after ca 115 000 yr ago open vegetation replaced forests in northwestern europe and the proportion of conifers increased significantly farther south air temperature at vostok dropped sharply pulses of cold water affected the northern north atlantic already in late mis 5e but the central north atlantic remained warm throughout most of mis 5d model results show that the sea surface in the eastern tropical pacific warmed when the ice grew and sea level dropped the essentially interglacial conditions in southwestern europe remained unaffected by ice buildup until late mis 5d when the forests disappeared abruptly and cold water invaded the central north atlantic ca 107 000 yr ago

iceberg discharges into the north atlantic on millennial time scales during the last glaciation high resolution studies of north atlantic deep sea cores demonstrate that prominent increases in iceberg calving recurred at intervals of 2000 to 3000 years much more frequently than the 7000 to 10 000 year pacing of massive ice discharges associated with heinrich events the calving cycles correlate with warm cold oscillations called dansgaard oeschger events in greenland ice cores each cycle records synchronous discharges of ice from different sources and the cycles are decoupled from sea surface temperatures these findings point to a mechanism operating within the atmosphere that caused rapid oscillations in air temperatures above greenland and in calving from more than one ice sheet

influence of the discovery and shona mantle plumes on the southern mid atlantic ridge rare earth evidence chondrite normalized la sm n ratio variations from 66 basalt glasses dredged along the mid atlantic ridge mar from 40 54 5 s reveal two distinct geochemical anomaly highs coupled with gravity and bathymetric highs and crest like rather than rifted ridge axis morphology the discovery anomaly 45 49 s located opposite the discovery hotspot track is irregular and shows large local variation the shona anomaly 50 52 5 s is smoother and shows less local variation these results suggest that the influential shona mantle plume may be located on or very close to the ridge in contrast the dispersal of the discovery plume located well off the ridge is affected in a complex manner by the agulhas fracture zone and the asthenospheric flow field associated with the spreading mar

late warming and early cooling of the sea surface in the nordic seas during mis 5e eemian interglacial abstract geochemical identification of a tephra layer found in two cores from the ne atlantic ocean and the se norwegian sea respectively and dated to 127 ka bp has enabled us to obtain a precise correlation across the iceland scotland ridge at the marine isotope stage mis 6 5 transition the direct distance between the two cores is only about 200 km south of the iceland scotland ridge sea surface temperatures rose abruptly at 130 ka bp at the onset of mis 5e and at least 2 3000 years earlier than north of the ridge maximum sea surface temperatures south of the ridge occurred during this initial phase of mis 5e when temperatures in the nordic seas were still low north of the ridge the sea surface warmed rapidly at 127 ka bp correlations between the north atlantic records and the eemian of northwest europe tentatively indicate that the initial phase of mis 5e correlates with the early part of the eemian characterised by a warm continental type of climate the period after the warming of the nordic seas corresponds to the slightly cooler and more oceanic middle eemian interval in europe the sea surface temperatures fell gradually north of the ridge during the later part of mis 5e and they were low during mis 5d 5a south of the ridge the temperatures remained relatively high the data shows that there was no outflow of deep water from the norwegian sea during the later part of mis 6 outflow began at the mis 6 5 transition simultaneous with the sea surface warming south of the ridge

high resolution climate records from the north atlantic during the last interglacial the two deep ice cores recovered by the grip1 and gisp22 projects at summit greenland agree in detail over the past 100 000 years3 and demonstrate dramatic climate variability in the north atlantic region during the last glacial before the current period of holocene stability this glacial climate instability has subsequently been documented in the marine sedimentary record of surface ocean conditions in the north atlantic4 before 100 kyr ago the two ice core records are discrepant however casting doubt on whether the oxygen isotope fluctuations during the last interglacial eemian seen in the grip core1 5 represent a true climate signal here we present high resolution records of foraminiferal assemblages and ice rafted detritus from two north atlantic cores for the interval 65 kyr to 135 kyr ago extending the surface ocean record back to the eemian the correlation between our records and the greenland ice core records is good throughout the period in which the two ice cores agree suggesting a regionally coherent climate response during the eemian our marine records show a more stable climate than that implied by the grip ice core suggesting that localized phenomena may be responsible for the variability in the latter record during the eemian

persistent suborbital climate variability in marine isotope stage 5 and termination ii new surface water records from two high sedimentation rate sites located in the western subtropical north atlantic near the axis of the gulf stream provide clear evidence of suborbital climate variations through marine isotope stage mis 5 persisting even into the warm peak of the interglaciation substage 5e we found that the amplitude of suborbital climate oscillations did not vary significantly for the whole of mis 5 implying that ice volume has little or no influence on the amplitude of suborbital climate variability in this region although some records suggest that longer suborbital variations 4 10 kyr during mis 5 are linked to deepwater changes none of the existing records is of sufficient resolution to assess if a linkage occurred for oscillations shorter than 4 kyr however when examined in conjunction with published data from the norwegian sea new evidence from the subpolar north atlantic suggests that coupled surface deepwater oscillations occurred during the penultimate deglaciation this supports the hypothesis that during glacial and deglacial times ocean ice interactions and deepwater variability amplify suborbital climate change at higher latitudes we suggest that during the penultimate deglaciation the north atlantic deepwater source varied between nordic sea and open north atlantic locations in parallel with surface temperature oscillations

global ice volume fluctuations north atlantic ice rafting events and deep ocean circulation changes between 130 and 70 ka multiproxy data from north atlantic deep sea sediment core neap18k provide a detailed record of climate through oxygen isotope stage ois 5 seven distinct large scale episodes of ice rafting c25 c19 were identified between 126 and 70 ka global ice volume reconstructions based on high resolution benthic 18 o records indicate that major ice rafting events were not confined to ice volume maxima at ois 5d and 5b but also occurred during periods of ice sheet growth and disintegration however iceberg discharges were restricted to times when sea levels were 40 65 m below present values ice rafting episode c25 the first large scale cooling of mid atlantic surface waters after the last interglacial occurred during the gradual buildup of continental ice sheets at the ois 5e 5d transition major ice sheet collapses allied to ice rafting events c24 and c21 were associated with rapid sea level increases of 20 and 40 m respectively suborbital climatic fluctuations in the neap18k sedimentary record denoted by prominent 7 5 4 5 and 3 k y cyclicities appear to correlate with both greenland atmospheric temperatures and changes in thermohaline circulation patterns inferred from benthic 13 c values and hence provide clear evidence of a highly interconnected north atlantic climatic regime during ois 5

sea surface temperature variability during the last glacial interglacial cycle assessing the magnitude and pattern of climate change in the north atlantic abstract sea surface temperature and salinity estimates reconstructed using planktonic foraminiferal abundance and 18o records from core su90 03 40 n 32 w 2475 m water depth reveal large climatic fluctuations linked to major instabilities in northern hemisphere ice sheets over the last 150 000 years episodes of enhanced ice rafted detritus ird input were accompanied by discrete temperature minima representing coolings of between 4 and 8 c and reductions in surface salinity of up to 2 5 3 5 several additional cooling episodes of a similar magnitude were documented during intervals of low ird input that appear to be synchronous within the limits of dating with ice rafting events spatially confined to higher latitudes accelerator mass spectrometer 14c dates for heinrich events h1 14 2 ka h2 21 4 ka h3 26 7 ka h4 34 8 ka h5 47 2 ka obtained from core su90 03 agree well with other published age estimates and suggest a contemporaneous pattern of climate change throughout the north atlantic during the last glacial period this interpretation is supported by a comparison of ird and palaeotemperature records from dsdp site 609 and core su90 03 which clearly shows that the major climatic fluctuations identified at high latitudes were transmitted toward the subtropics however 14c dates suggest that ice rafting episodes may be diachronous to some extent the northward migration of the polar front after the h1 event at 40 n in the mid atlantic occurred at 14 ka approximately 500 years earlier than along the portuguese margin where the southerly advection of polar waters persisted within eastern boundary current system

a late eemian aridity pulse in central europe during the last glacial inception how do ice ages begin it s an obvious question to ask as we enjoy the relative luxury of an interglacial but a hard one to answer a look at past transitions may give some clues as to how this period will one day come to an end a climate reconstruction based on sediments found beneath a lake in the eifel mountains in germany provides evidence of an extreme climate event lasting 468 years right at the end of the last interglacial dust storms aridity bushfires and the loss of trees associated with a warm climate coincided with a southward shift of the warm waters of the north atlantic drift in terms of insolation the rate of delivery of the sun s radiation to earth conditions then were similar to those we have now investigating the processes that led to the end of the last interglacial period is relevant for understanding how our ongoing interglacial will end which has been a matter of much debate see for example refs 1 2 a recent ice core from greenland demonstrates climate cooling from 122 000 years ago3 driven by orbitally controlled insolation with glacial inception at 118 000 years ago4 5 6 7 8 here we present an annually resolved layer counted record of varve thickness quartz grain size and pollen assemblages from a maar lake in the eifel germany which documents a late eemian aridity pulse lasting 468 years with dust storms aridity bushfire and a decline of thermophilous trees at the time of glacial inception we interpret the decrease in both precipitation and temperature as an indication of a close link of this extreme climate event to a sudden southward shift of the position of the north atlantic drift the ocean current that brings warm surface waters to the northern european region the late eemian aridity pulse occurred at a 65 n july insolation of 416 w m 2 close to today s value of 428 w m 2 ref 9 and may therefore be relevant for the interpretation of present day climate variability

sea surface temperature variability in the north atlantic during the last two glacial interglacial cycles comparison of faunal oxygen isotopic and mg ca derived records climate variability in the northeast atlantic was investigated on glacial interglacial and millennial time scales during the last 200 000 years using sea surface temperature sst records derived from planktonic foraminiferal diversities and from mg ca measurements on globigerina bulloides paleoceanographical interpretations are supported by species composition analyses benthic and planktonic isotopic data as well as records of iceberg rafted debris ird differences of climate development are recognized for both interglacial and glacial periods temperature estimates indicate slightly warmer conditions up to 2 c during marine oxygen isotope stage mis 5e than during the holocene in contrast to the last glaciation when the sst minimum coincided with a minimum in solar insolation immediately before termination i during the penultimate glaciation a long sst minimum occurred at times of intermediate solar insolation well preceding the onset of termination ii this discrepancy between two glacial terminations may be explained by an inherently different orbital configuration characteristic for each glacial interval despite these differences between the two glacial trends the superimposed shorter lived climatic events reveal the same order of principal steps implying their common causal nature a direct comparison of faunal ssts with those retrieved from mg ca analysis shows that mg ca derived temperatures follow the general glacial interglacial trend however the latter appear to be largely overestimated supported by 18o data in g bulloides which show little response to millennial scale variability there seems to be a need for species dependent calibration experiments that also consider the different oceanographic settings this particular species can live in

coccolith evidence for instabilities in surface circulation south of iceland during holocene times abstract the coccolith based micropaleontological investigation of an exceptionally thick deep sea holocene sediment core was conducted in order to document the pattern and timing of surface circulation changes south of iceland over the gardar contour drift during the last 12 000 years fluctuations in bulk carbonate content at the core location are primarily driven by the coccolith fraction the observed overall correlation between bottom flow speed as given by the sortable silt mean size index and the bulk coccolith concentration abundance g dry sediment suggests that the accumulation of this fine carbonate fraction is as a first order controlled by processes of sediment redistribution by bottom current the down core variations in coccolith assemblage structure species indicate that changes in properties of surface waters south of iceland occurred as two distinct steps at ca 11 2 and 6 ka the onset of north atlantic drift water influence over the gardar drift after 11 2 ka was associated with excess export flux of coccolith carbonate in the vicinity of an active frontal system the period from 10 to 6 ka saw the progressive warming of the study area which culminated between 6 and 7 ka cooling of the surface waters after 6 ka as indicated changes in the relative abundances of the dominant coccolith species took place in two phases the present hydrological regime being only established after a last cooling step between 3 5 and 2 8 ka these long term reorganisations of the surface hydrology are interpreted as the response of the north atlantic to the combined force of the solar insolation and the waning laurentide ice sheet millennial scale perturbations of the surface hydrology are documented by changes in accumulation of the species emiliania huxleyi these successive decreases in the export fluxes of e huxleyi exhibit a distinct millennial pacing in phase with previously recorded holocene advection of cool ice bearing waters from the greenland iceland seas to the british islands from a clear analogy with the most recent extreme variation in global ocean climate we argue that mechanisms responsible for these observed millennial scale perturbations might be found in long term modulations of the atmospheric processes associated with the north atlantic oscillation nao

species composition and glacial interglacial variations in the ostracode fauna of the northeast atlantic during the past 200 000 years sediment core m23414 from the rockall plateau north atlantic covering the last two climatic cycles marine isotope stages mis 7 to 1 was investigated for glacial interglacial variations in the deep sea benthic ostracode fauna a highly diversified ostracode fauna including 98 species was found two climate related assemblages were identified associated with interglacial and peak glacial periods respectively the interglacial group occurs during the end of mis 7 5 and 1 and is composed of the genera henryhowella pelecocythere echinocythereis cytherella bradleya aversovalva and eucytherura the glacial group consists of the genera acetabulastoma which is known as sea ice indicator in the modern arctic ocean polycope bythoceratina rhombobythere and some species possibly belonging to the genus pseudocythere and is found during mis 6 4 and 2 these longer term variations within the ostracode fauna seem related to the particular glacial and interglacial climate conditions that affected both deep water production as well as primary production in the surface waters however a detailed comparison of ostracode abundances with the occurrence of events marked by increased ice rafted debris reveals also much shorter term climate related changes in the ostracode fauna thus the temporal fluctuations within ostracode assemblages reflect long and short term alterations of the deep sea environment that are clearly linked to climate changes

surface and deep water changes in the subpolar north atlantic during termination ii and the last interglaciation to reconstruct the history of water mass exchange between the ne atlantic and the nordic seas sediment cores from 2 km water depth were studied across termination ii tii and through the last interglaciation mis5e during early tii the sudden appearance of the low latitude planktonic foraminifera beella megastoma is noted in both regions along with a steep decrease in benthic foraminiferal 18o since other proxies indicate that surface waters were cold and stratified because of meltwater conditions which prevented near surface thermohaline circulation and vertical convection in the nordic seas water mass exchange between the two areas occurred at the subsurface during later tii surface conditions changed and this subsurface circulation style was eventually replaced by vertical convection in the nordic seas b megastoma vanished from the record together with ice rafted debris ird at the end of tii while subpolar foraminiferal abundance rose peak interglacial conditions with intensive vertical convection now fully developed generating a bottom water temperature gradient of 4 c between the two areas however surface water temperatures deteriorated in the nordic seas already notably before ird recurred and 18o increased at the end of mis5e

north atlantic intermediate to deep water circulation and chemical stratification during the past 1 myr benthic foraminiferal carbon isotope records from a suite of drill sites in the north atlantic are used to trace variations in the relative strengths of lower north atlantic deep water lnadw upper north atlantic deep water unadw and southern ocean water sow over the past 1 myr during glacial intervals significant increases in intermediate to deep 13c gradients commonly reaching 1 2 are consistent with changes in deep water circulation and associated chemical stratification bathymetric 13c gradients covary with benthic foraminiferal 18o and covary inversely with vostok co2 in agreement with chemical stratification as a driver of atmospheric co2 changes three deep circulation indices based on 13c show a phasing similar to north atlantic sea surface temperatures consistent with a northern hemisphere control of nadw sow variations however lags in the precession band indicate that factors other than deep water circulation control ice volume variations at least in this band

north atlantic ocean surface currents 1 close to 1800 surface drifters are used to investigate the 15 m circulation of the north atlantic ocean the data are used to describe structures of the average eulerian circulation and of the associated eddy variability the data resolve scales on the order of 50 km which have hitherto not been systematically described in particular near shelf breaks and near the most intense currents the gulf stream the north atlantic current nac and the frontal currents of the subpolar gyre this reveals a complex series of quasi permanent eddies meanders and recirculation patterns gulf stream intensity is portrayed as changing abruptly near 54 w east of which it is identified as two current branches centered near 39 and 41 5 n the northern one connecting more directly with the nac and the southern one with the recirculation gyre and the azores current ac many features of the currents are controlled by topography in particular currents are often intensified near shelf breaks or parallel to ridges in the subpolar gyre however the largest northward branch of the nac in the icelandic basin is located near the deepest bathymetry not near steep bathymetry other currents in particular in the subtropical gyre are less clearly related to topography for instance the ac is featured as a zonal eastward current extending far west of the mid atlantic ridge mar to at least 55 w and possibly 63 w in the interior and away from topographic features the eddy kinetic energy eke is the largest where the mean currents are the largest in the subpolar gyre there are striking differences in eke between southward flowing currents the labrador and east greenland current and the northward flowing currents west greenland current and branches of the nac which have higher eke the areas of weakest variability are located in the southwest part of the subpolar gyre northeast of iceland and in the eastern atlantic south of 45 n the ac eddies and the mesoscales south of the canary islands transect this eastern eddy desert drifter trajectories are used as realizations of lagrangian particles in the vicinity of current cores these illustrate the variety of paths or connections between different current systems and demonstrate cross stream dispersions

evidence for a steeper eemian than holocene sea surface temperature gradient between arctic and sub arctic regions sediment proxy data from the norwegian greenland and iceland seas nordic seas are presented to evaluate surface water temperature sst differences between holocene and eemian times and to deduce from these data the particular mode of surface water circulation records from planktic foraminiferal assemblages caco3 content oxygen isotopes of foraminifera and iceberg rafted debris form the main basis of interpretation all results indicate for the eemian comparatively cooler northern nordic seas than for the holocene due to a reduction in the northwardly flow of atlantic surface water towards fram strait and the arctic ocean therefore the cold polar water flow from the arctic ocean was less influencial in the southwestern nordic seas during this time as can be further deduced from the eemian data slightly higher eemian ssts are interpreted for the western iceland sea compared to the norwegian sea ca south of 70 n this eemian situation is in contrast to the holocene when the main mass of warmest atlantic surface water flows along the norwegian continental margin northwards and into the arctic ocean thus a moderate northwardly decrease in sst is observed in the eastern nordic seas for this time causing a meridional transfer in ocean heat due to this distribution in ssts the holocene is dominated by a meridional circulation pattern the interpretation of the eemian data imply a dominantly zonal surface water circulation with a steep meridional gradient in ssts

the fate of coccoliths at 48 n 21 w northeastern atlantic abstract as part of the joint global ocean flux study program jgofs north atlantic bloom experiment nabe coccolithophore fluxes were recorded over one year period from april 1989 to april 1990 three vertically moored sediment traps synchronized on a 14 day interval were deployed at 48 n 21 w at three water depths at 1 2 and 3 7 km sea floor at 4 4 km we present the results on the vertical variability of coccolith and coccosphere fluxes through the water column calcium carbonate was the largest component of the total mass flux followed by particulate organic matter and opal coccolith and coccosphere seasonal fluxes followed the seasonality of the biogeochemical particle fluxes at all three depths with maxima occurring during the spring particle bloom the decrease in correlation between coccosphere and coccolith fluxes with depth from r 0 98 at 1 km depth to 0 60 at 3 7 km depth documents that disaggregation of the coccospheres occurs during settling in the deeper part of the water column between 1 and 3 7 km water depth annual coccosphere and coccolith fluxes were 1 5 108 and 0 9 10 11 m 2 year 1 respectively at 1 km depth or 3 1 108 and 1 4 10 11 m 2 year 1 including the spring 1990 episode for the 3 7 km trap the corresponding values were 0 5 108 and 1 1 1011 0 6 108 and 1 1 1011 including the partially recorded spring 1990 episode the slight increase in coccolith numbers with water depth can be explained by coccosphere disintegration and lateral influx nevertheless selective dissolution of delicate coccolith species from 1 to 3 7 km water depth occurs e g relative abundances of oolithothus fragilis coccoliths decrease from 3 at 1 km to less than 0 5 at 3 7 km water depth emiliania huxleyi gephyrocapsa muellerae calcidiscus leptoporus and coccolithus pelagicus constitute from 65 at 1 km depth to 95 at 3 7 km depth of the total coccolith assemblages the same four coccolith taxa dominate the fossil assemblages in the underlying surface sediments selective dissolution continues in the sediments most notably the abundance of the solution resistant species c leptoporus increases from 10 to 15 in the trap samples to 15 40 in the sediments annual flux of calcium carbonate in sediment trap samples accounts for about 60 of the total annual mass flux with the coccolith fraction m being about 45 of the annual carbonate flux mean value of 41 at 1 km and 50 at 3 7 km water depth the correlation between the m caco 3 and the calculated coccolithophore and calcisphere caco3 fluxes decreases with depth r 0 92 at 1 km and r 0 86 at 3 7 km indicating that partial dissolution and fragmentation of the delicate less calcified coccolithophore and planktic foraminifera species occurs during settling this fine fragmentation of biogenic caco3 can contribute to the m fraction causing the decrease of correlation with the calculated caco3 fluxes being based only on the flux of intact coccoliths and calcispheres

paleomagnetic record at odp site 980 feni drift rockall for the past 1 2 myrs 1 a detailed record of variations in the direction and intensity of the geomagnetic field over the past 1 2 myrs has been obtained from an 120 m thick sedimentary section cored at odp site 980 on the feni drift north atlantic the record has high resolution due to high mean sedimentation rates 11 3 cm kyr for the brunhes chron and 5 5 cm kyr for the matuyama chron paleomagnetic measurements every 1 cm along u channel samples and high quality isotopic age control the iceland basin event is manifest by virtual geomagnetic poles crossing the equator at 190 ka the base of the recovered section lies immediately below the cobb mountain subchronozone that occurs within marine isotope stage 35 normalized remanence data can be correlated to paleointensity records from odp sites 983 and 984 700 km to the nw from site 980 and with lower resolution paleointensity data from the pacific ocean differences between the site 980 paleointensity record and the pacific records are attributed to variable sedimentation rates variable quality age control and inadequacies in the normalization procedure used to derive the paleointensity proxies

rapid changes in ocean circulation and heat flux in the nordic seas during the last interglacial period the apparent similarity of climate variability in the north atlantic region in the last interglacial period1 5 and the present interglacial holocene has recently been challenged by the rapid oscillations in climate conditions indicated by some marine6 7 and terrestrial climate records8 10 for the last interglacial ocean circulation in the northern north atlantic seems to be intimately coupled to the processes of climate change on various time scales11 12 so that climate variability and the associated mechanisms of change should be well recorded by sediments from these high latitudes previous studies in this region5 13 have indeed indicated an apparently less stable last interglacial climate than at middle latitudes of the north atlantic ocean4 here we present detailed records from marine sediments in the nordic seas of oceanographic conditions during the last interglacial the records show three large sea surface temperature fluctuations a weakening of the east west sea surface temperature gradient with time and changes in deep water properties in contrast similar analyses of a core from the same region indicate that sea surface temperature during the holocene has been relatively stable our data along with those from the labrador sea7 indicate rapid changes in ocean circulation and oceanic heat fluxes at high northern latitudes during the last interglacial which may have been associated with marked temperature changes on adjacent continents

calcareous nannofloral response to termination ii at 45 n 25 w northeast atlantic abstract termination ii glacial to interglacial transition from oxygen isotope stage 6 to stage 5 is considered to be one of the most rapid and abrupt climatic changes during the late quaternary our high resolution geochemical and nannofloral study of the interval from 140 to 100 ka in the northeast atlantic core t90 9p 45 17 5 n 25 41 3 w shows that termination ii 135 125 ka occurred in two steps of drastic changes interrupted by a short period of stability and followed by at least 25 ka of relatively stable interglacial conditions traditionally referred to as the eemian age substage 5 5 a primary productivity proxy based on coccolith accumulation rate number cm 2 ka 1 shows higher values during the eemian than during glacial stage 6 and interglacial substage 5 4 with the maximum values 70 10 9 coccoliths cm 2 ka 1 at 123 122 ka the coccolith assemblage was dominated by two morphotypes of gephyrocapsa alternating in dominance under different climatic conditions gephyrocapsa muellerae was more abundant in colder periods whereas small gephyrocapsa dominated in the eemian emiliania huxleyi syracosphaera pulchra and florisphaera profunda increased in the eemian whereas coccolithus pelagicus and helicosphaera carteri decreased small gephyrocapsa together with emiliania huxleyi are associated with periods of higher primary productivity the pelagic sedimentary record of termination ii in core t90 9p includes a 5 cm thick layer enriched in ice rafted material a heinrich layer in contrast to termination i where such a heinrich layer h1 is associated with the first meltwater pulse of the deglaciation the record of core t90 9p suggests that the heinrich event of termination ii h11 occurred during the second stage of deglaciation 129 4 127 1 ka it is characterised by accumulation of ice rafted debris and low coccolithophore diversity the coincident apparent drop in coccolith accumulation rate could be explained either by changes in primary productivity due to reduction in salinity and light or by dilution by ice rafted material five models are applied for the deposition of the heinrich layer with changing thickness 3 cm and duration 1000 500 and 250 yr these scenarios result in a lowered constant or even slightly increased primary productivity during this event

north atlantic current and european environments during the declining stage of the last interglacial this paper provides a tentative reconstruction of environmental shifts in europe associated with changes of the north atlantic current and related meridional sea surface temperature sst gradients during most of the eemian interglacial ca 126 115 ka the north atlantic current extended far north into the nordic seas and european environments were comparable to those of the holocene however ca 115 ka an sst drop in the nordic seas marked a southward displacement of the north atlantic current this hydrographic shift was associated with substantial cooling in northern europe and drier conditions in the mediterranean region the polar timberline retreated southward from 69 n in northernmost scandinavia to 52 n in central europe and thermophilous deciduous trees became extinct north of the 48th parallel woodlands persisted in southern europe for another 5 k y well into marine isotope substage 5d these conditions indicate steep vegetation and climate gradients at the inception of the last glacial

the structure of termination ii penultimate deglaciation and eemian in the north atlantic abstract a study of the 140 100 ka interval in core t90 9p from the north atlantic 45 n 25 w based on analysis of oxygen and carbon isotope records from planktonic and benthonic foraminifera and from the bulk sediment fine fraction facilitates a detailed paleoceanographic reconstruction of the penultimate deglaciation termination ii and of the eemian interglacial 18o stage 5e the first step of termination ii was characterised by low productivity and a mixed water column which was a remnant of glacial conditions a 3 ka period of relatively stable conditions with a stratified water column termination ii pause occurred half way through termination ii and preceeded a second and more rapid climatic shift the end of the deglaciation eemian maximum i e isotopic event 5 53 initiated the establishment of strong seasonal water column stratification north atlantic deep water nadw production remained low during the complete glacial interglacial transition after the eemian maximum nadw prodution was restored and bottom waters remained quite stable during the course of the eemian while surface waters gradually cooled in the second half of the stage a short surface water cooling event accompanied by a reduced seasonal water column stratification and nutrient instability occurred at approximately 117 ka bp

history of the last deglaciation and holocene in the nordic seas as revealed by coccolithophore assemblages abstract coccolithophore assemblages were investigated in 15 sediment cores from the nordic seas norwegian greenland iceland seas cores were selected which have a well constrained absolute chronology for the last 15 000 to 18 000 years enabling us to study in detail the development of the coccolithophore assemblages during the last deglaciation and the holocene the data have been used to reconstruct the paleoceanographic conditions of the surface waters the coccolithophore assemblages are of low diversity and consist almost entirely of coccolithus pelagicus and emiliania huxleyi other species such as gephyrocapsa muellerae calcidiscus leptoporus and syracosphaera pulchra in some cases contribute considerably to the assemblages sparse occurrences of coccolithophores together with a high number of reworked pre quaternary species are observed in the southeastern norwegian sea before about 11 500 cal yr b p indicating harsh environmental conditions with dominant influence of meltwater and very small inflow of atlantic surface water from 11 500 to about 8000 cal yr b p a stepwise increase towards a first maximum in absolute numbers of coccolithophores in the whole nordic seas coincides with maximum northern hemisphere summer insolation the assemblages from the greenland and iceland sea generally have lower concentrations than those of the norwegian sea and are characterised by a more abrupt onset in coccolithophore abundance this suggests that ice free surface water circulation was reinitiated after about 9500 cal yr b p although the influence of the warm atlantic inflow decreased towards the northwest of the study area a considerable change in the composition of coccolithophore assemblages occurred corresponding approximately to the establishment of modern conditions at about 7 500 cal yr b p since about 6 000 cal yr b p coccolithophore assemblages have been relatively stable suggesting that the current system in the nordic seas with its modern oceanographic and ecological properties has been fully established

plankton in the norwegian greenland sea from living communities to sediment assemblages an actualistic approach a synoptic study is carried out to reconstruct the development of the plankton community in the late quaternary in the norwegian greenland sea it comprises quantitative analyses of coccolithophores dinoflagellate cysts diatoms and radiolarians an actualistic approach is applied to evaluate the different fossil records of these plankton groups the preliminary results of the current investigation are reported here

evolution and demise of the last interglacial warmth in the subpolar north atlantic detailed faunal isotopic and lithic marine records provide new insight into the stability and climate progression of the last interglacial period marine isotope stage mis 5 which peaked approximately 125 000 years ago in the eastern subpolar north atlantic at the latitude of ireland interglacial warmth of the ice volume minimum of substage 5e mis 5e lasted 10 000 years 10 ka and its demise occurred in two cooling steps the first cooling step marked the end of the climatic optimum which was 2 3 ka long minor ice rafting accompanied each cooling step the second larger step encompassing cold events c26 and c25 was previously identified in the northwestern atlantic approximately 41c of cooling occurred between peak interglacial warmth and c25 and the region experienced an additional temporary cooling of at least 1 21c during c24 a cooling event associated with widespread ice rafting in the north atlantic beginning with c24 mis 5 was characterized by oscillations of at least 1 21c superimposed on a generally cool baseline the results of this study imply that the marine climatic optimum of the last interglacial was shorter than previously thought the finding that the eastern subpolar north atlantic cooled significantly before c24 reconciles terrestrial evidence for progressive climate deterioration at similar and lower latitudes with marine conditions our results also demonstrate a close association between modest ice rafting cooling and deep ocean circulation even during the peak of mis 5e and in the earliest stages of ice growth