millennial scale changes in sea surface temperature and ocean circulation in the northeast pacific 10 60 kyr bp 1 a new centennial scale mg ca temperature record from the california margin odp site 1017e reveals large millennial scale oscillations between 10 to 60 kyr this record indicates that sea surface temperature on the california margin warmed rapidly on the deglacial by 7 4 0 8 c and was preceded by a pre bolling temperature oscillation of 2 6 1 2 c millennial scale events of the last glacial episode were marked by sea surface temperature oscillations of between 3 and 7 c on the california margin and interstadials were associated with an increase in surface water salinity the data are consistent with evidence for a glacial southward shift in the polar jet stream and concomitant strengthening of the relatively cold fresh california current during stadial events the data also support previous hypotheses suggesting a tight coupling between the north atlantic and northeast pacific response to climate instability of the last glacial episode

a study of cleaning procedures used for foraminiferal mg ca paleothermometry the various cleaning steps required for preparation of foraminiferal samples for mg ca and sr ca analysis are evaluated for their relative importance and effects on measured elemental ratios it is shown that the removal of silicate contamination is the most important step for the measurement of mg ca ratios in an example bulk sample mg ca decreases from 10 5 to 2 5 mmol mol 1 during clay removal oxidation of organic material causes a lowering of sample mg ca in the order of 10 or approximately 1 c when converted to temperature use of dilute acid leaching to remove adsorbed contaminants causes partial dissolution of the sample carbonate and a corresponding decrease in mg ca reductive treatment also causes dissolution of the sample and a decrease in the mg ca ratio of up to 10 15 sample preparation for sr ca analysis does not require the same degree of rigor as is necessary for mg ca work the within run reproducibility of the method described here for g ruber in a core top sample from the arabian sea was 1 8 mean sample ratio was 4 72 mmol mol 1 when converted to temperature this becomes 28 0 2 c the equivalent result for sr ca was 0 5 mean ratio 1 44 mmol mol 1

investigating the fidelity of mg ca and other elemental data from reductively cleaned planktonic foraminifera 1 there has been considerable discussion about whether reductive cleaning can or should be used when samples are prepared for foraminiferal mg ca analyses the reductive solution causes considerable sample loss through dissolution and the natural dissolution effect on planktonic foraminiferal mg ca raises the question whether the shell chemistry might be affected during cleaning we conducted a series of experiments to explore the effects of the reductive cleaning step on shell chemistry mg ca na ca sr ca fe ca mn ca ree ca and u ca of two planktonic foraminiferal species we then compare these results with natural dissolution in core top specimens from a range of varying natural dissolution intensity our results confirm previous experiments by yu et al 2007 that the citrate used in the reductive solution can play a larger role in decreasing some element ca ratios than hydrazine the reductive agent at least in samples that are not problematic to clean i e have low mn ca fe ca and al ca solutions containing varying concentrations of citrate yield lower mg ca than those without citrate however mg ca reaches an asymptotic value following a dilute application of citrate other element ca ratios are also lowered by citrate and tend toward an asymptotic value at increasing strengths of citrate mg ca data from experiments in which the duration of the reductive cleaning step was varied or repeated suggest that the standard reductive cleaning step should yield reproducible results for most elemental ratios our experiments suggest that the primary mechanism of dissolution by citrate is unlikely to be preferential removal of mg from the lattice and also demonstrate that there are differences between natural and laboratory dissolution effects given that there are situations in which mg ca data are improved by reductive cleaning we conclude that it is acceptable to reductively clean samples before mg ca analysis

a simple evaluation of cleaning procedures on fossil benthic foraminiferal mg ca 1 recent studies suggest that benthic foraminiferal mg ca may be useful in reconstructing deep water temperature changes during the quaternary and on longer timescales rosenthal et al 1997 lear et al 2000 martin et al 2002 because changes in deep water temperature may be small sample preparation could play an important role in reconstructing accurate temperatures from shell mg ca a simple examination of changes in measured shell chemistry of benthic foraminifera from two intervals subjected to increasingly rigorous cleaning reveals that fossil benthic foraminiferal samples cleaned by oxidation yield lower mg ca values than samples only rinsed and weak acid leached reductive cleaning further lowered the shell mg ca of one of the two benthic species examined lower mg ca values following oxidation and reduction appear to reflect removal of contaminant mg associated with remnant organic matter and adsorbed phases

consistent relationship between global climate and surface nitrate utilization in the western subarctic pacific throughout the last 500 ka 1 the open subarctic pacific is at present a high nitrate low chlorophyll hnlc region where nitrate is perennially abundant at the surface theoretically the hnlc status of this region is subject to modification by ocean circulation and or micronutrient supply with implications for the effectiveness of the biological pump and hence carbon sequestration in the ocean interior records of biogenic detritus in sediments from throughout the subarctic pacific indicate that export production was generally lower during glacial maxima while nitrogen isotope measurements from the bering sea have shown that nitrate consumption there was more complete during the last glacial period than it is today here nitrogen isotopic analyses of bulk sediments 15nbulk from three deep water sites in the open subarctic pacific are evaluated in terms of regional nitrate isotopic composition and local relative nitrate utilization the eastern subarctic pacific 15nbulk record bears great similarity to 15nbulk records from the western margin of north america over the last glacial cycle suggesting that variability in the isotopic composition of subeuphotic zone nitrate the growth substrate is reasonably coherent throughout the northeast pacific and dominates at these sites however the two western subarctic pacific records which lie at the heart of the hnlc region display a different pattern implying that significant changes in local relative nitrate utilization overlie the regional background variability after a novel correction intended to remove the background signal associated with denitrification in the eastern tropical north pacific these nitrate utilization records are correlated with a benthic oxygen isotope stack reflecting global deep ocean temperature and ice volume r2 0 65 the correlation implies a strong link between global climate and subarctic pacific nitrate utilization with nearly complete nitrate consumption during glacial periods when export production was low

freshwater impacts recorded in tetraunsaturated alkenones and alkenone sea surface temperatures from the okhotsk sea across millennial scale cycles 1 we present records of phytoplankton produced alkenones down a long piston core which reveal changes of sea surface temperature sst and sea surface salinity sss in the southwestern okhotsk sea over the past 120 ka between 20 and 60 ka b p alkenone derived temperatures typically increased by 6 c 8 c from periods corresponding within a few hundred years to stadials to those corresponding to interstadials recorded in greenland ice cores the abundance of c37 4 alkenone relative to total c37 alkenones percent c37 4 a possible proxy for salinity indicated that during most low sss was associated with high sst the warm freshwater events might be related to 1 a decline in the supply of saline water entering the okhotsk sea through the soya strait 2 strengthening of the freshwater supply from the amur river and precipitation over the okhotsk sea associated mainly with increased asian summer monsoon activity and 3 the effect of melting sea ice these findings increase our understanding of the close linkage between high and low latitudes in relation to climate change and the synchronicity of climate changes within a few centuries between the pacific and the atlantic sides of the northern hemisphere

reevaluation of the oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera experimental results and revised paleotemperature equations cultured planktonic foraminifera orbulina universa symbiotic and globigerina bulloides nonsymbiotic are used to reexamine temperature 18o relationships at 15 25 c relationships for both species can be described by linear equations equations for o universa grown under low light ll and high light hl share a slope of 4 80 0 21 c 1 with a hl ll offset of 0 33 due to symbiont photosynthetic activity the effect of co32 on o universa is 0 002 mol 1 kg 1 and is insensitive to temperature for g bulloides ontogenetic effects produce size related trends in temperature 18o whereby larger shells are enriched in 18o relative to smaller specimens the o universa temperature 18o relationships are more accurate than previously published equations for describing plankton tow data our equations do not explain planktonic core top data with the same precision but provide a good fit to benthic cibicidoides data below 10 c temperature 18o relationships for g bulloides provide good agreement with field data for this species from the northeast pacific

millennial climate oscillations in ne pacific surface waters over the last 82 kyr new evidence from alkenones 1 a climate instability in the last glacial corresponding to dansgaard oeschger d o events has been already recognized in the california margin in northeast pacific detailed sea surface temperature sst changes in this region however have not been so far well elucidated here we report estimates of alkenone derived ssts with the do time scale from odp hole 1017e off point conception over the last 80 kyr our results show that alkenone ssts clearly record d o and heinrich events we also found that alkenone ssts during 82 58 ka and 18 15 ka were considerably higher and those in 15 12 ka were lower than those derived from 18o of planktonic foraminifera these results appear to reflect fluctuations of water masses

impact of sea ice variability on the oxygen isotope content of seawater under glacial and interglacial conditions records of temporal variability in the oxygen isotopic composition of biogenic carbonates 18oc from ocean sediment cores inform our understanding of past continental ice volume and ocean temperatures interpretation of 18ocvariability typically neglects changes due to factors other than ice volume and temperature here we investigate whether glacial interglacial changes in sea ice which fractionates seawater during its formation could shift the isotopic value of seawater in the deep ocean affecting benthic foraminiferal 18oc and thereby potentially impacting oxygen isotope based sea level reconstructions or in surface waters affecting planktic foraminiferal 18oc we simulate glacial and interglacial states with the isotope enabled university of victoria earth system climate model and perform a global analysis distinct patterns of sea ice production emerge for the glacial versus interglacial states we find no substantive shift in 18ow in model deep or bottom waters due to the simulated interglacial glacial sea ice variability small isotopic shifts due to sea ice variability are concentrated in the model s surface waters of the northern hemisphere specifically in the labrador sea and northeastern north atlantic

altimeter derived surface circulation in the large scale ne pacific gyres part 1 seasonal variability abstract the seasonal variability of sea surface height ssh and currents are defined by analysis of altimeter data in the ne pacific ocean over the region from central america to the alaska gyre the results help to clarify questions about the timing of seasonal maxima in the boundary currents as explained below the long term temporal mean of the ssh values must be removed at each spatial point to remove the temporally invariant and large signal caused by the marine geoid we refer to the resulting ssh values which contain all of the temporal variations as the residual ssh our main findings are 1 the maximum surface velocities around the boundaries of the cyclonic alaska gyre the alaska current and the alaska stream occur in winter at the same time that the equatorward california current is weakest or reversed forming the poleward davidson current the maximum surface velocities in the california current occur in summer these seasonal maxima are coincident with the large scale atmospheric wind forcing over each region 2 most of the seasonal variability occurs as strong residuals in alongshore surface currents around the boundaries of the ne pacific basin directly connecting the boundaries of the subpolar gyre the subtropical gyre and the equatorial current system 3 seasonal variability in the surface velocities of the eastward north pacific current west wind drift is weak in comparison to seasonal changes in the surface currents along the boundaries 4 there is an initial appearance next to the coast and offshore migration of seasonal highs and lows in ssh alongshore velocity and eddy kinetic energy eke in the alaska gyre similar to the previously described seasonal offshore migration in the california current 5 the seasonal development of high ssh and poleward current residuals next to the coast appear first off central america and mainland mexico in may june prior to their appearance in the southern part of the california current in july august and their eventual spread around the entire basin in november december similarly low ssh and equatorward transport residuals appear first off central america and mexico in january february before spreading farther north in spring and summer 6 the maximum values of eke occur when each of the boundary currents are maximum

quantified intermediate water oxygenation history of the ne pacific a new benthic foraminiferal record from santa barbara basin the oxygen minimum zone omz of the late quaternary california margin experienced abrupt and dramatic changes in strength and depth in response to changes in intermediate water ventilation ocean productivity and climate at orbital through millennial time scales expansion and contraction of the omz is exhibited at high temporal resolution 107 126 year by quantitative benthic foraminiferal assemblage changes in two piston cores forming a vertical profile in santa barbara basin 569 m basin floor 481 m near sill depth to 34 and 24 ka respectively variation in the omz is quantified by new benthic foraminiferal groupings and new dissolved oxygen index based on documented relations between species and water mass oxygen concentrations foraminiferal based paleoenvironmental assessments are integrated with principal component analysis bioturbation grain size caco3 total organic carbon and c 13 to reconstruct basin oxygenation history fauna responded similarly between the two sites although with somewhat different magnitude and taxonomic expression during cool episodes younger dryas and stadials the water column was well oxygenated most strongly near the end of the glacial episode 17 16 ka heinrich 1 in contrast the omz was strong during warm episodes bolling allerod interstadials and pre boreal during the bolling allerod the omz shoaled to 360 m of contemporaneous sea level its greatest vertical expansion of the last glacial cycle assemblages were then dominated by bolivina tumida reflecting high concentrations of dissolved methane in bottom waters short decadal intervals were so severely oxygen depleted that no benthic foraminifera were present the middle to late holocene 6 0 ka was less dysoxic than the early holocene

intermittent existence of a southern californian upwelling cell during submillennial climate change of the last 60 kyr 1 application of a high resolution multiproxy approach to a sedimentary section drilled at ocean drilling program site 1017 located under a highly active upwelling cell off point conception california provides clear evidence for surface ocean productivity shifts on submillennial timescales during the last 60 kyr the proxies include bulk sediment major and minor elements organic carbon and carbonate concentrations 15n and planktonic foraminiferal species assemblage and carbon isotope determinations the collective results demonstrate that marine productivity in this area was not simply linearly related to cold and warm cycles except during the millennial scale climate oscillations of marine isotope stage mis 3 during that interval the upwelling cell and resulting high productivity were active during warm interstadial events and were largely inactive during cool stadial events however the last glacial maximum was also relatively productive productivity increased dramatically during the bolling warm interval while the allerod and younger dryas were much less productive high coccolithophorid abundance commenced during the earliest holocene after 10 ka the complexity of the productivity response was probably related to interplay between local winds as well as california undercurrent strength

dynamic millennial scale climate changes in the northwestern pacific over the past 40 000 years 1 ice core records of polar temperatures and greenhouse gases document abrupt millennial scale oscillations that suggest the reduction or shutdown of thermohaline circulation thc in the north atlantic ocean may induce the abrupt cooling in the northern hemisphere it remains unknown however whether the sea surface temperature sst is cooling or warming in the kuroshio of the northwestern pacific during the cooling event here we present an ams 14c dated foraminiferal mg ca sst record from the central okinawa trough and document that the sst variations exhibit two steps of warming since 21 ka at 14 7 ka and 12 8 ka and a cooling 1 5 c during the interval of the younger dryas by contrast we observed no sst change or oceanic warming 1 5 2 c during the episodes of northern hemisphere cooling between 21 40 ka we therefore suggest that the antarctic like timing and amplitude of millennial scale sst variations in the subtropical northwestern pacific between 20 40 ka may have been determined by rapid ocean adjustment processes in response to abrupt wind stress and meridional temperature gradient changes in the north pacific

apparent synchroneity of submillennial scale climate events between greenland and santa barbara basin california from 30 10 ka abstract evidence is presented from odp hole 893a santa barbara basin for possible synchroneity between greenland and california margin submillennial climate change records during termination 1 and the last glacial maximum lgm planktonic foraminiferal isotope and faunal records are compared to the gisp2 18o records greenland for the interval between 30 and 10 ka using a new chronology based on 38 planktonic 14c dates apparent synchronous climatic events include interstadial is events 2 3 and 4 a broad warming trend between 21 and 19 ka and a broad cooling trend between 19 and 17 ka bolling and allerod warm episodes separated by the cooler older dryas event younger dryas cool episode and the preboreal the resulting tight correlation supports an intimate teleconnection between santa barbara basin surface waters and greenland air temperatures differences between greenland and santa barbara basin suggest that some regional variations were superimposed on the global pattern of climate change e g the pre bolling warming

seasonal and interannual variation in santa barbara basin water temperatures observed in sediment trap foraminiferal mg ca 1 we have generated a santa barbara basin sediment trap mg ca record to evaluate culture based calibration equations for the temperate subpolar planktonic foraminiferal species globigerina bulloides and neogloboquadrina pachyderma dextral g bulloides and n pachyderma mg ca are significantly correlated with seasonal variations in temperature of the near surface and subthermocline depths respectively the average deviation between mg based and 18o based temperature estimates is 0 6 c for g bulloides and 0 8 c for n pachyderma differences between mg derived temperatures and instrumental temperatures may be due to cleaning methods environmental factors such as seasonal variations in foraminiferal depth habitats or possible secondary effects on mg ca core top mg ca of both g bulloides and n pachyderma is in excellent agreement with average values from the sediment trap lending strong support for the interpretation of downcore mg ca from these species as annual average near surface and thermoclinal temperatures

north pacific climate response to freshwater forcing in the subarctic north atlantic oceanic and atmospheric pathways abstract sudden changes of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc are believed to have caused large abrupt climate changes over many parts of the globe during the last glacial and deglacial period this study investigates the mechanisms by which a large freshwater input to the subarctic north atlantic and an attendant rapid weakening of the amoc influence north pacific climate by analyzing four different ocean atmosphere coupled general circulation models gcms under present day or preindustrial boundary conditions when the coupled gcms are forced with a 1 sv sv 106 m3 s 1 freshwater flux anomaly in the subarctic north atlantic the amoc nearly shuts down and the north atlantic cools significantly the south atlantic warms slightly shifting the atlantic intertropical convergence zone southward in addition to this atlantic ocean atmosphere response all of the models exhibit cooling of the north pacific especially along the oceanic frontal zone consistent with paleoclimate recons

deglacial development of sub sea surface temperature and salinity in the subarctic northwest pacific implications for upper ocean stratification based on models and proxy data it has been proposed that salinity driven stratification weakened in the subarctic north pacific during the last deglaciation which potentially contributed to the deglacial rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide we present high resolution subsurface temperature tmg ca and subsurface salinity approximating 18oivc sw records across the last 20 000 years from the subarctic north pacific and its marginal seas derived from combined stable oxygen isotopes and mg ca ratios of the planktonic foraminiferal species neogloboquadrina pachyderma sin our results indicate regionally differing changes of subsurface conditions during the heinrich stadial 1 and the younger dryas cold phases our sites were subject to reduced thermal stratification brine rejection due to sea ice formation and increased advection of low salinity water from the alaskan stream in contrast the bolling allerod warm phase was characterized by strengthened thermal stratification stronger sea ice melting and influence of surface waters that were less diluted by the alaskan stream from direct comparison with alkenone based sea surface temperature estimates sstuk 37 we suggest deglacial thermocline changes that were closely related to changes in seasonal contrasts and stratification of the mixed layer the modern upper ocean conditions seem to have developed only since the early holocene

high resolution record of northern hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period high resolution record of northern hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period

pore fluid constraints on the temperature and oxygen isotopic composition of the glacial ocean pore fluids from the upper 60 meters of sediment 3000 meters below the surface of the tropical atlantic indicate that the oxygen isotopic composition 18 o of seawater at this site during the last glacial maximum was 0 8 0 1 per mil higher than it is today combined with the 18 o change in benthic foraminifera from this region the elevated ratio indicates that the temperature of deep water in the tropical atlantic ocean was 4 c colder during the last glacial maximum extrapolation from this site to a global average suggests that the ice volume contribution to the change in 18 o of foraminifera is 1 0 per mil which partially reconciles the foraminiferal oxygen isotope record of tropical sea surface temperatures with estimates from barbados corals and terrestrial climate proxies

the california current system as a transmitter of millennial scale climate change on the northeastern pacific margin from 10 to 50 ka a high resolution record of 18o and mg ca based temperatures spanning 10 50 ka has been reconstructed from the vancouver margin of the northeastern pacific ocean md02 2496 from two planktonic foraminiferal species neogloboquadrina pachyderma s and globigerina bulloides while 18ocalcite appears synchronous with dansgaard oeschger interstadials dois throughout the record millennial scale variability in sea surface temperatures ssts and reconstructed 18oseawater are frequently out of phase with greenland climate changes in water mass characteristics such as 18ocalcite and enriched 15n events apparently responded to millennial scale climate change during marine isotope stage 3 mis 3 such that negative 18ocalcite excursions coincided with heavier 15n these water mass characteristic shifts are suggestive of the presence of surface water advected from the eastern tropical north pacific etnp by relative strengthening of the california undercurrent cuc bringing warm salty tropical waters poleward the linkage between the strength of the cuc on the ne pacific margin and millennial scale climate change may be related to increased sea surface heights off central america as the intertropical convergence zone itcz shifted northward in response to changes in north atlantic ocean circulation poor correlations between proxies exist through late mis 3 into mis 2 ice sheet growth could have disrupted the linkage between cuc and the ne pacific margin as the laurentide ice sheet disrupted atmospheric circulation and the cordilleran ice sheet increasingly influenced regional paleoceanography

the last glacial termination a major puzzle of paleoclimatology is why after a long interval of cooling climate each late quaternary ice age ended with a relatively short warming leg called a termination we here offer a comprehensive hypothesis of how earth emerged from the last global ice age a prerequisite was the growth of very large northern hemisphere ice sheets whose subsequent collapse created stadial conditions that disrupted global patterns of ocean and atmospheric circulation the southern hemisphere westerlies shifted poleward during each northern stadial producing pulses of ocean upwelling and warming that together accounted for much of the termination in the southern ocean and antarctica rising atmospheric co2 during southern upwelling pulses augmented warming during the last termination in both polar hemispheres

interannual variability in northeast pacific circulation 1 interannual variability of the circulation in the northeast pacific ocean is explored through a joint analysis of expendable bathythermograph xbt and expendable conductivity temperature depth xctd data satellite altimetry and output from a model that was constrained by ocean data xbt temperature profiles with high spatial resolution are available in the eastern north pacific along two repeated transects these ship tracks along with the coast of north america define a closed box which is used to study the time mean circulation and its variability on interannual timescales geostrophic velocities from xbt data are compared with geostrophic velocities from model output as well as the full model velocity fields correlations in variability on interannual timescales between transport in the subpolar gyre and in the subtropical gyre are present in both model output and data the nature of the variability and its relation to the changes of the strength of the north pacific current npc which supplies the water for both gyres are explored interannual variability in gyre transport is found to be related to both the bifurcation of the npc resulting in an anticorrelation in transport between the two gyres and to variations in npc strength resulting in simultaneous changes in the two gyres the dominant signal is found to be a long term increase in the npc which results in a strengthening of the subtropical gyre possible connections with local scale wind stress changes and with the el nino southern oscillation phenomenon are also explored

the deglacial transition on the southeastern alaska margin meltwater input sea level rise marine productivity and sedimentary anoxia 1 oxygen isotope data from planktonic and benthic foraminifera on a high resolution age model 44 14c dates spanning 17 400 years document deglacial environmental change on the southeast alaska margin 59 33 32 n 144 9 21 w 682 m water depth surface freshening i e 18o reduction of 0 8 began at 16 650 170 cal years b p during an interval of ice proximal sedimentation likely due to freshwater input from melting glaciers a sharp transition to laminated hemipelagic sediments constrains retreat of regional outlet glaciers onto land circa 14 790 380 cal years b p abrupt warming and or freshening of the surface ocean i e additional 18o reduction of 0 9 coincides with the bolling interstade of northern europe and greenland cooling and or higher salinities returned during the allerod interval coincident with the antarctic cold reversal and continue until 11 740 200 cal years b p when onset of warming coincides with the end of the younger dryas an abrupt 1 reduction in benthic 18o at 14 250 290 cal years b p likely reflects a decrease in bottom water salinity driven by deep mixing of glacial meltwater a regional megaflood event or brine formation associated with sea ice two laminated opal rich intervals record discrete episodes of high productivity during the last deglaciation these events precisely dated here at 14 790 380 to 12 990 190 cal years b p and 11 160 130 to 10 750 220 cal years b p likely correlate to similar features observed elsewhere on the margins of the north pacific and are coeval with episodes of rapid sea level rise remobilization of iron from newly inundated continental shelves may have helped to fuel these episodes of elevated primary productivity and sedimentary anoxia

late quaternary deglaciation and sea level history of eastern juan de fuca strait cascadia abstract eastern juan de fuca strait of southwestern british columbia northwestern washington state is near the western and southern terminus of late wisconsinan glaciation in north america seismic reflection profiles bathymetric data sediment core data and 41 new radiocarbon dates provide insight into the history of ice retreat and sea level change in the eastern portion of the strait the retreating ice margin appears to have passed through the area between 14 460 200 and 13 595 145 14c yr glacial marine sediments date between 12 889 50 and 11 110 50 14c yr bp wave eroded unconformities drowned prograded deposits and a partially isolated low stand basin are evidence attributed to low stand sea levels following deglaciation and five new control points on the local eustatic sea level curve are assigned based on radiocarbon dating of these features sea level change was rapid from 75 m immediately after deglaciation to possibly 60 4 m at 9920 60 14c yr bp after this time gradual sea level transgression took place relative sea level reached its approximate present position by 5470 115 14c yr bp since then relative sea level has remained constant suggesting eustatic rise is balanced by crustal uplift

climatically related millennial scale fluctuations in strength of california margin oxygen minimum zone during the past 60 k y a strong oxygen minimum zone omz currently exists along the california margin because of a combination of high surface water productivity and poor intermediate water ventilation however the strength of this omz may have been sensitive to late quaternary ocean circulation and productivity changes along the margin although sediment lamination strength has been used to trace ocean oxygenation changes in the past oxygen levels on the open margin are not sufficiently low for laminations to form in these regions benthic foraminifera are highly sensitive monitors of omz strength and their fossil assemblages can be used to reconstruct past fluctuations benthic foraminiferal assemblages from ocean drilling program site 1017 off point conception exhibit major and rapid faunal oscillations in response to late quaternary millennial scale climate change dansgaard oeschger cycles on the open central california margin these faunal oscillations can be correlated to and are apparently synchronous with those reported from santa barbara basin together they represent major fluctuations in the strength of the omz which were intimately associated with global climate change weakening perhaps disappearing during cool periods and strengthening during warm periods these rapid major omz strength fluctuations were apparently widespread on the northeast pacific margin and must have influenced the evolution of margin biota and altered biogeochemicalmore cycles with potential feedbacks to global climate change less

nitrogen isotope and productivity variations along the northeast pacific margin over the last 120 kyr surface and subsurface paleoceanography 1 glacial interglacial changes in sedimentary 15n over the last 120 kyr display a remarkably similar pattern in timing and amplitude in core records extending from the denitrification zone in the eastern tropical north pacific etnp where subsurface denitrification is active to the oregon margin where no denitrification occurs today low 15n values 4 6 generally characterize glacial stages 2 and 4 and higher 15n values 7 10 are representative of the holocene millennial scale periods within stage 3 and stage 5 the inferred synchroneity of 15n variations along the entire margin implies that the nitrate isotopic signal produced in the oxygen poor subsurface waters in the etnp is rapidly advected northward and recorded at sites far beyond the boundaries of the modern denitrification zone similar to 15n primary production indicators percent corg ba al and percent opal show glacial interglacial as well as millennial scale variations along the ne pacific margin with higher primary production during warm periods however the relative phasing between 15n and paleoproduction tracers within individual records changes latitudinally whereas 15n and primary production vary approximately synchronously in the midlatitudes production lags 15n in the etnp by several kiloyears this lag calls for a new understanding of the processes driving denitrification in the etnp we suggest that oxygen input by the equatorial undercurrent as well as local organic matter flux controls denitrification rates in the etnp moreover the differences in relative timing point to a time transgressive development of upwelling favorable winds along the ne pacific margin after the last glaciation with those in the north developing several kiloyears earlier

vulnerability of the cordilleran ice sheet to iceberg calving during late quaternary rapid climate change events 1 we present the first high resolution record of iceberg calving on the continental slope of vancouver island british columbia md02 2496 48 58n 127 02w 1243 m water depth through the last glacial from the cordilleran ice sheet cis these previously unknown ice rafted debris ird events representing significant retreat of the western margin of the cis out of marine waters show little correspondence with local climate change high resolution radiocarbon dating indicates that the younger ird events coincide with global radiocarbon age plateaus that allow direct correlation with distal climate records where the same plateaus have been identified the coincidence of episodic shedding of ird from the cis with north atlantic climate events i e north atlantic deep water shutdown and heinrich events begs the question what drove cis destabilization forcing appears to be external to cis dynamics perhaps resulting from either eustatic sea level rise or episodes of atmospheric warming over the north american continent

is pore water oxygen content decoupled from productivity on the california margin trace element results from ocean drilling program hole 1017e san lucia slope california 1 trace element evidence from the california margin ocean drilling program hole 1017e shows significant changes in sediment redox chemistry at intermediate water depths over the last 60 kyr the influence of export production on intermediate water oxygen content can be distinguished from lateral ventilation through comparisons among proxies representing export production flux percent corg and sediment surface i br and pore water mo ag cd re and u oxygenation proxies sulfate reduction within the uppermost sediment column occurred during late quaternary interstadials and the holocene indicating reduced intermediate water ventilation however sulfate reduction was most intense during major interstadials when productivity was enhanced decoupling between export production and pore water oxygen content is demonstrated during deglaciation when the sediment pore water oxygen content increases without a corresponding reduction in export productivity thus both export production and intermediate water ventilation play a role in oxygen minimum zone processes on the california margin

paleomagnetism of the katherine group in the mackenzie mountains implications for post grenville hadrynian apparent polar wander paleomagnetic poles from the upper proterozoic mackenzie mountains supergroup mms of northwestern canada define an apparent polar wander path lying to the west of the grenville loop this path is suggested from an analysis of the quartzitic katherine group whose probable primary pole lies at the beginning of the sequence near the younger end of the grenville track 0 88 ga the end of the apparent polar wander apw sequence may be defined by a primary pole from sills intruding the tsezotene formation below the katherine we relate the sills dated at about 0 77 ga to the rifting event that led to copper cycle and rapitan sediments above the mms and we suggest that the exposed part of the mms has an age between 0 88 and 0 77 ga the apw path is apparently not affected by rotations pole evidence indicates little if any relative rotation between thrust sheets of the fold belt or between the fold belt and the craton paleomagnetic analysis of the katherine group data obtained by alternating field

modeling the generation of the juan de fuca eddy 1 numerical simulations with the regional ocean modeling system are used to study the generation of the cyclonic juan de fuca eddy located off the entrance of juan de fuca strait in summer an initial simulation forced with average summer upwelling favorable winds tides and buoyancy boundary conditions that maintain an estuarine flow in juan de fuca strait produces an eddy and currents that are in reasonable agreement with observations sensitivity studies are then carried out to explore the importance of these three forcing mechanisms the relative proximity of dense water in the bottom estuarine flow entering the strait is shown to lead to enhanced upwelling off cape flattery when either wind or tidal forcing is applied this upwelled water then mixes with the estuarine outflow and is advected offshore the tidal upwelling arises through three mechanisms m2 vertical excursions of nearly 20 m at 50 m depth west of the cape on the flood tide strong tidally rectified vertical velocities west of the cape and the spilling of denser bottom water over the western wall of juan de fuca canyon on the ebb tide the cyclonic eddy is a consequence of geostrophic adjustment to the doming isopycnals that arise from the upwelling these model simulations refute an earlier hypothesis that the eddy is generated when california undercurrent water is drawn up tully canyon and onto the vancouver island shelf suggesting instead that these canyon dynamics play only a secondary role in maintaining the eddy once it is formed

sea surface temperature variability and sea ice extent in the subarctic northwest pacific during the past 15 000 years past changes in north pacific sea surface temperatures and sea ice conditions are proposed to play a crucial role in deglacial climate development and ocean circulation but are less well known than from the north atlantic here we present new alkenone based sea surface temperature records from the subarctic northwest pacific and its marginal seas bering sea and sea of okhotsk for the time interval of the last 15 kyr indicating millennial scale sea surface temperature fluctuations similar to short term deglacial climate oscillations known from greenland ice core records past changes in sea ice distribution are derived from relative percentage of specific diatom groups and qualitative assessment of the ip25 biomarker related to sea ice diatoms the deglacial variability in sea ice extent matches the sea surface temperature fluctuations these fluctuations suggest a linkage to deglacial variations in atlantic meridional overturning circulation and a close atmospheric coupling between the north pacific and north atlantic during the holocene the subarctic north pacific is marked by complex sea surface temperature trends which do not support the hypothesis of a holocene seesaw in temperature development between the north atlantic and the north pacific key points millennial scale changes in sst in the north pacific during the last 15 kyr changes in sea ice extent suggest a close coupling to sst fluctuations middle to late holocene ssts show no clear sst trend in the north pacific