productivity changes in the bering sea during the late quaternary changes in biological productivity of the bering sea have been evaluated for the late quaternary based on biogenic opal calcium carbonate and microfossils in two piston cores biological productivity increased during marine isotope stage mis 1 after the last glaciation during the last deglaciation two pronounced peaks of calcium carbonate content were observed at ca 2400 m water depth which can be explained by the caco3 compensation hypothesis and coccolithophore blooms simultaneous with the caco3 peaks oxygen poor deep water was apparently distributed in the aleutian basin based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages the low o2 events seem to be related to deep water circulation and or elevated productivity in the northwest pacific after the caco3 peak events biogenic opal contents and diatoms increased gradually associated with enhanced vertical mixing with an inflow of the alaskan stream through the eastern aleutian arc passes r 2005 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

mg ca temperature proxy in benthic foraminifera new calibrations from the florida straits and a hypothesis regarding mg li 1 over the past decade the ratio of mg to ca in foraminiferal tests has emerged as a valuable paleotemperature proxy however large uncertainties remain in the relationships between benthic foraminiferal mg ca and temperature mg ca was measured in benthic foraminifera from 31 high quality multicore tops collected in the florida straits spanning a temperature range of 5 8 to 18 6 c new calibrations are presented for uvigerina peregrina planulina ariminensis planulina foveolata and hoeglundina elegans the mg ca values and temperature sensitivities vary among species but all species exhibit a positive correlation that decreases in slope at higher temperatures the decrease in the sensitivity of mg ca to temperature may potentially be explained by mg ca suppression at high carbonate ion concentrations it is suggested that a carbonate ion influence on mg ca may be adjusted for by dividing mg ca by li ca the mg li ratio displays stronger correlations to temperature with up to 90 of variance explained than mg ca alone these new calibrations are tested on several last glacial maximum lgm samples from the florida straits lgm temperatures reconstructed from mg ca and mg li are generally more scattered than core top measurements and may be contaminated by high mg overgrowths the potential for mg ca and mg li as temperature proxies warrants further testing

orbital scale benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope stratigraphy at the northern bering sea slope site u1343 iodp expedition 323 and its pleistocene paleoceanographic significance abstract a continuous composite oxygen isotope 18o stratigraphy from benthic foraminifera in the bering sea was reconstructed in order to provide insight into understanding sea ice evolution in response to northern hemisphere glaciation oxygen isotope records from multiple species of benthic foraminifera at integrated ocean drilling program iodp expedition 323 site u1343 54 33 4 n 176 49 0 e water depth 1950 m yield a highly refined orbital scale age model spanning the last 1 2 ma and a refined age model between 1 2 and 2 4 ma an inter species calibration was used to define species offsets and to successfully obtain a continuous composite benthic 18o record correlated with the global composite benthic 18o stack curve lr04 to construct an orbital scale age model the consistency of the benthic 18o stratigraphy with biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy confirms the reliability of both methods for constraining age the time difference between cyclic changes in sedimentary physical properties and glacial interglacial cycles since 0 8 ma is notable and suggests that physical properties alone cannot be used to construct an orbital scale age model amplitude changes in physical properties and a significant drop in the linear sedimentation rate during glacials after 0 9 ma indicate that the glacial sea ice edge extended beyond the bering sea slope site u1343 at this time

evidence for enhanced convection of north pacific intermediate water to the low latitude pacific under glacial conditions we provide high resolution foraminiferal stable carbon isotope 13c records from the subarctic pacific and eastern equatorial pacific eep to investigate circulation dynamics between the extratropical and tropical north pacific during the past 60 kyr we measured the 13c composition of the epibenthic foraminiferal species cibicides lobatulus from a shallow sediment core recovered from the western bering sea so201 2 101kl 58 52 52 n 170 41 45 e 630 m water depth to reconstruct past ventilation changes close to the source region of glacial north pacific intermediate water gnpiw information regarding glacial changes in the 13c of subthermocline water masses in the eep is derived from the deep dwelling planktonic foraminifera globorotaloides hexagonus at odp site 1240 00 01 31 n 82 27 76 w 2921 m water depth apparent similarities in the long term evolution of 13c between gnpiw intermediate waters in the eastern tropical north pacific and subthermocline water masses in the eep suggest the expansion of relatively 13c depleted nutrient enriched and northern sourced intermediate waters to the equatorial pacific under glacial conditions further it appears that additional influence of gnpiw to the tropical pacific is consistent with changes in nutrient distribution and biological productivity in surface waters of the glacial eep our findings highlight potential links between north pacific mid depth circulation changes nutrient cycling and biological productivity in the equatorial pacific under glacial boundary conditions

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

deep sea temperature and ice volume changes across the pliocene pleistocene climate transitions earth has undergone profound changes since the late pliocene which led to the development 2 7 million years ago ma and intensification 0 9 ma of large scale northern hemisphere ice sheets recorded as transitions in the benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope 18ob record here we present an orbitally resolved record of deep ocean temperature derived from benthic foraminiferal magnesium calcium ratios from the north atlantic which shows that temperature variations are a substantial portion of the global 18ob signal the record shows two distinct cooling events associated with the late pliocene lpt 2 5 to 3 ma and mid pleistocene mpt 1 2 to 0 85 ma climate transitions whereas the lpt increase in ice volume is attributed directly to global cooling the shift to 100 000 year cycles at the mpt is more likely to be a response to an additional change in ice sheet dynamics

comparison of atlantic and pacific paleochemical records for the last 215 000 years changes in deep ocean circulation and chemical inventories abstract detailed cd ca and 13 c data have been obtained for benthic foraminifera from western north atlantic and equatorial pacific sediment cores in the modern ocean both tracers are closely linked to nutrient distributions the sedimentary records for both tracers indicate that bottom waters overlying the atlantic site have been nutrient depleted relative to those at the pacific site over the last 215 000 years from this evidence it is reasonable to infer that there has been a continuous net flux of nutrient depleted water from the western north atlantic into the pacific this exchange has undergone significant fluctuations with the export of nutrient depleted atlantic water diminishing by about a factor of two relative to the inflow from southern ocean sources over the last 215 000 years carbon isotope fluctuations in both regions are dominated by variable storage of isotopically light carbon on continents with a lesser contribution from these deep ocean circulation changes the cadmium signal in the north atlantic is dominated by changes in deep ocean circulation patterns cadmium shows less variability in the pacific which may reflect changes in the global average cadmium content or minor changes in deep pacific circulation patterns using these records to estimate global averages it appears that glacial ocean water had 22 more cd and 0 46 less 13 c than the modern ocean these numbers are estimates which may be revised as more data become available although they are not likely to be as much as 20 in error for cd or 0 2 for 13 c relative north atlantic deep water nadw formation rates are modulated with a significant 41 kyr periodicity linked to obliquity induced variations in high latitude insolation nadw lags 8 2 kyr behind insolation however

deepwater formation in the north pacific during the last glacial termination between approximately 17 500 and 15 000 years ago the atlantic meridional overturning circulation weakened substantially in response to meltwater discharges from disintegrating northern hemispheric glacial ice sheets the global effects of this reorganization of poleward heat flow in the north atlantic extended to antarctica and the north pacific here we present evidence from north pacific paleo surface proxy data a compilation of marine radiocarbon age ventilation records and global climate model simulations to suggest that during the early stages of the last glacial termination deep water extending to a depth of approximately 2500 to 3000 meters was formed in the north pacific a switch of deepwater formation between the north atlantic and the north pacific played a key role in regulating poleward oceanic heat transport during the last glacial termination

13c record of benthic foraminifera in the last interglacial ocean implications for the carbon cycle and the global deep water circulation the 13c 12c ratios of upper holocene benthic foraminiferal tests genera cibicides and uvigerina of deep sea cores from the various world ocean basins have been compared with those of the modern total carbon dioxide tco2 measured during the geosecs program the 13c difference between benthic foraminifera and tco2 is 0 07 0 04 for cibicides and 0 83 0 07 for uvigerina at the 95 confidence level 13c analyses of the benthic foraminifera that lived during the last interglaciation isotopic substage 5e about 120 000 yr ago show that the bulk of the tco2 in the world ocean had a 13c value 0 15 0 12 lower than the modern one at the 95 confidence level reflecting a depletion compared to the present value of the global organic carbon reservoir regional differences in 13c between the various oceanic basins are explained by a pattern of deep water circulation different from the modern one the antarctic bottom water production was higher than today during the last interglaciation but the eastward transport in the circumpolar deep water was lower

the pacific atlantic seesaw and the bering strait 1 paleo proxy data and previous modeling studies both indicate that the massive discharge of icebergs into the north atlantic may have led to a nearly collapsed atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc resulting in a seesaw like climate change between the north pacific and north atlantic with a warming in the former and a cooling in the latter here by using a fully coupled climate model we show that this pacific atlantic seesaw associated with changes of the amoc can only occur when the bering strait is closed as this strait is closed the oceanic communication between the north pacific and atlantic is cut off when amoc collapses the north atlantic becomes cooler but the north pacific becomes warmer due to the buildup of the pacific meridional overturning circulation which transports more warm and salty subtropical water into the north pacific leading to seesaw like climate changes in the two ocean basins

subsidence rates and urban damages in alluvial dolines of the central ebro basin ne spain in the central ebro basin alluvial dolines develop on quaternary materials overlying neogene evaporites this process is very active analysing aerial photographs of different years important differences can be observed since the 1970s when the urbanisation of the area took place karst processes have damaged many buildings and infrastructures from the dates of construction and the repair of a number of buildings and pavements we calculate subsidence rates 12 120 mm year moreover we decided to monitor for around 4 years three dolines developed on urban areas to determine their subsidence behaviour a water level device with an error of 2 3 mm was utilised for this purpose the subsidence rates so obtained are 64 5 39 and 21 mm year which fit with the previous data from repaired zones

sea ice and oxygen isotopes in foxe basin hudson bay and hudson strait canada the summer distribution of sea ice meltwater and river runoff and the surface circulation in foxe basin hudson bay and hudson strait have been studied by oxygen isotope techniques on the basis of oxygen isotope and salinity relationships the reduction of surface salinity in summer in foxe basin is predominantly due to sea ice meltwater river runoff and sea ice meltwater contribute equally to the summer surface layer in northern hudson bay the isotopic data clearly show the flow of foxe basin water through roes welcome sound into northwestern hudson bay but no evidence for this outflow is found in the passages connecting hudson bay and hudson strait oxygen isotopes indicate that recent river runoff is concentrated in a narrow band along the south side of hudson strait the wide variety of relationships between oxygen isotope ratios and salinity is explained by the known ice dynamics and the seasonal variability predicted from ice melting and freezing models

stable isotope clue to episodic sea ice formation in the glacial north atlantic sea ice is a determinant parameter of the climate system which acts as amplifier through positive ice albedo feedbacks and induces deep water formation through brine production it is also one of the most elusive parameters in the paleoclimate record most proxies of sea ice provide information on its presence and extent of e g diatoms or dinocysts but do not permit assessment on its rate of formation however seemingly off equilibrium low 18o values in mesopelagic planktic foraminifer species as observed today in the arctic ocean are thought to relate to the production of isotopically light brines during sea ice formation and might thus provide a clue on the rate of sea ice growth with reference to the isotopic properties of modern planktic foraminifers in the arctic ocean and using multi proxy data sets from the last glacial stage in the northwest north atlantic we re examined some of the current interpretations of planktic isotope records in the glacial nw north atlantic the large amplitude light isotopic excursions recorded in neogloboquadrina pachyderma left coiling during heinrich events 1 for example correspond to extensive sea ice cover as reconstructed from dinocysts and do not seem unequivocally linked to low salinity pulses such light isotopic excursion more likely responded to enhanced rates of sea ice formation resulting in the production and sinking of isotopically light brines on the contrary the isotopically heavy planktic foraminifers of the last glacial maximum lgm interval stricto sensu would rather suggest relatively low rates of brine production thus low sea ice growth rates in the area this would imply that the lgm distribution of sea ice in the north atlantic was primarily linked to spreading and drifting from marginal and nordic source areas and not from enhanced in situ production at the scale of glacial interglacial cycles isotopic distillation processes relating to sea ice production at high latitudes could be one of the factors controlling the 18o salinity relationship in deep ocean water masses that might deserve closer examination as it would be independent of continental ice volume changes

last glacial holocene change in intermediate water ventilation in the northwestern pacific abstract the modern north pacific is the terminus for deep water circulation while no deep water mass is formed today the region is the source of north pacific intermediate water 300 800 m formed primarily in the sea of okhotsk however the source and strength of intermediate water in the glacial north pacific was likely different from the present intermediate water here we present microfossil evidence of late quaternary ventilation changes associated with changes in intermediate water intermediate water ventilation decreased drastically at the glacial termination when it switched to the modern circulation system the ventilation change appears to have been widespread and synchronous in the north pacific glacial microfossil assemblages indicate that there was relatively strong ventilation of intermediate water which seems to have been cold and well oxygenated as if produced by brine rejection during the formation of sea ice on the basis of the glacial distribution of microfossils in the north pacific we suggest that intermediate water was derived from the bering sea during the glacials rather than the sea of okhotsk

north pacific intermediate water circulation enhanced by the closure of the bering strait the bering strait provides a shallow connection that allows freshwater to flow from the north pacific into the north atlantic but this passage was closed during past glacials when sea level was at least 50 m lower than at present climate models investigating bering strait closure predict that this mechanism increases the salinity in the north atlantic and reduces the salinity in the north pacific inducing a pacific atlantic seesaw in meridional overturning circulation and poleward heat flux however the pacific circulation response to bering strait closure and thus the seesaw theory has not been tested by long paleoceanographic records we present long records of foraminiferal 18o and 13c from integrated ocean drilling program site u1342 in the bering sea which provide the first evidence of enhanced north pacific intermediate water when the bering strait was closed during each of the extreme glacials of the last 1 2 myr these results suggest that orbital scale variations in north pacific intermediate water are coherent and in phase with variations in upper north atlantic deep water but are unrelated to changes in lower north atlantic deep water together these results provide evidence for systematic orbital scale variability in north pacific ocean circulation and may challenge the idea of an orbital scale pacific atlantic seesaw

radiocarbon and stable isotope constraints on last glacial maximum and younger dryas ventilation in the western north atlantic 1 foraminiferal abundance 14c ventilation ages and stable isotope ratios in cores from high deposition rate locations in the western subtropical north atlantic are used to infer changes in ocean and climate during the younger dryas yd and last glacial maximum lgm the 18o of the surface dwelling planktonic foram globigerinoides ruber records the present day decrease in surface temperature sst of 4 c from gulf stream waters to the northeastern bermuda rise if during the lgm the modern 18o salinity relationship was maintained this sst contrast was reduced to 2 c with lgm to interglacial 18o changes of at least 2 2 ssts in the western subtropical gyre may have been as much as 5 c colder above 2 3 km glacial 13c was higher than today consistent with nutrient depleted younger bottom waters as identified previously below that 13c decreased continually to 0 5 about equal to the lowest lgm 13c in the north pacific ocean seven pairs of benthic and planktonic foraminiferal 14c dates from cores 2 5 km deep differ by 1100 340 years with a maximum apparent ventilation age of 1500 years at 4250 m and at 4700 m apparent ventilation ages are presently unavailable for the lgm 2 5 km because of problems with reworking on the continental slope when sea level was low because lgm 13c is about the same in the deep north atlantic and the deep north pacific and because the oldest apparent ventilation ages in the lgm north atlantic are the same as the north pacific today it is possible that the same water mass probably of southern origin flowed deep within each basin during the lgm very early in the yd dated here at 11 25 0 25 n 10 conventional 14c kyr bp equal to 12 9 calendar kyr bp apparent ventilation ages 2 3 km water depth were about the same as north atlantic deep water today below 2 3 km four yd pairs average 1030 400 years the oldest apparent ventilation age for the yd is 1600 years at 4250 m this strong contrast in ventilation which indicates a front between water masses of very different origin is similar to glacial profiles of nutrient like proxies this suggests that the lgm and yd modes of ocean circulation were the same

influence of bering strait flow and north atlantic circulation on glacial sea level changes sea level fluctuations of about 20 30m occurred throughout the last glacial period these fluctuations seem to have been derived primarily from changes in the volume of northern hemisphere ice sheets 1 3 and cannot be attributed solely to ice melt caused by varying solar radiation 4 here we use a fully coupled climate model to show that the transport of relatively fresh pacific water into the north atlantic ocean was limited when lower sea level restricted or closed the bering strait resulting in saltier north atlantic surface waters this invigorated deep convection in the north atlantic ocean strengthening meridional overturning circulation and northward heat transport in our model which consequently promoted melting of ice sheets in north america and europe our simulations show that the associated sea level rise led to a reopening of the bering strait the flux of relatively fresh water into the north atlantic ocean muted meridional overturning circulation and led to cooling and ice sheet advance in the northern hemisphere we conclude that the repetition of this cycle could produce the sea level changes that have been observed throughout the last glacial cycle

intermediate water formation in the bering sea during glacial periods evidence from neodymium isotope ratios changes in the flux and location of overturning circulation may have large effects on marine ecosystems and co 2 exchange between the ocean and atmosphere however unlike the atlantic little is known about ocean circulation and ventilation under glacial boundary conditions in the north pacific especially in regard to intermediate water circulation here we present new records of neodymium nd isotopes e nd in fe mn oxyhydroxides of bering sea sediments 884 m water depth we found a systematic variation between radiogenic values up to 0 8 e nd during cold periods and relatively less radiogenic values nd during warm periods there are no water masses with such radiogenic nd isotope signatures in the intermediate or deep north pacific potential sources of radiogenic values in the subarctic north pacific are limited to surface waters adjacent to the aleutian arc and kamchatka peninsula therefore the radiogenic e nd values of fe mn oxyhydroxides observed at the intermediate depth during glacial periods are best explained by subduction of the surface water to the intermediate depth at least 800 m due to brine rejection our data strongly indicate that the northwestern bering sea off northeastern kamchatka was a possible source region of glacial intermediate water in the bering sea and the subarctic north pacific

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

observed increases in bering strait oceanic fluxes from the pacific to the arctic from 2001 to 2011 and their impacts on the arctic ocean water column 1 mooring data indicate the bering strait throughflow increases 50 from 2001 0 7 sv to 2011 1 1 sv driving heat and freshwater flux increases increase in the pacific arctic pressure head explains two thirds of the change the rest being attributable to weaker local winds the 2011 heat flux 5 1020j approaches the previous record high 2007 due to transport increases and warmer lower layer ll temperatures despite surface temperature sst cooling in the last decade warmer ll waters arrive earlier 1 6 1 1 days yr though winds and sst are typical for recent decades maximum summer salinities likely set in the bering sea remain remarkably constant 33 1 psu over the decade elucidating the stable salinity of the western arctic cold halocline despite this freshwater flux variability strongly driven by transport exceeds variability in other arctic freshwater sources remote data winds sst prove insufficient for quantifying variability indicating interannual change can still only be assessed by in situ year round measurements

glacial water mass geometry and the distribution of δ13c of σco2 in the western atlantic ocean 1 oxygen and carbon isotopic data were produced on the benthic foraminiferal taxa cibicidoides and planulina from 25 new piston cores gravity cores and multicores from the brazil margin the cores span water depths from about 400 to 3000 m and intersect the major water masses in this region these new data fill a critical gap in the south atlantic ocean and provide the motivation for updating the classic glacial western atlantic 13c transect of duplessy et al 1988 the distribution of 13c of co2 requires the presence of three distinct water masses in the glacial atlantic ocean a shallow 1000 m southern source water mass with an end member 13c value of about 0 3 0 5 vpdb a middepth 1500 m northern source water mass with an end member value of about 1 5 and a deep 2000 m southern source water with an end member value of less than 0 2 and perhaps as low as the 0 9 values observed in the south atlantic sector of the southern ocean ninnemann and charles 2002 the origins of the water masses are supported by the meridional gradients in benthic foraminiferal 18o a revised glacial section of deep water 13c documents the positions and gradients among these end member intermediate and deep water masses the large property gradients in the presence of strong vertical mixing can only be maintained by a vigorous overturning circulation

impact of north atlantic freshwater forcing on the pacific meridional overturning circulation under glacial and interglacial conditions abstractthe pacific meridional overturning circulation pmoc is not well known compared to the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc due to its absence today however considering pm

removing the north pacific halocline effects on global climate ocean circulation and the carbon cycle abstract a well pronounced halocline is a key feature of today s subarctic north pacific there is indirect paleo evidences from the last glacial termination as well as from the early and middle pliocene that this halocline has not always been there to study the effects of north pacific salinity on global climate ocean circulation and the marine carbon cycle we perform idealized experiments using an earth system model of intermediate complexity loveclim imposing a negative freshwater flux in the northern north pacific the halocline vanishes and a deep pacific meridional overturning circulation pmoc establishes the associated increase of meridional heat transport in the pacific leads to a bipolar seesaw response in temperature with warming in the north pacific and over north america and cooling in the southern ocean as a result of the formation of north pacific deep water npdw the surface branch of the global conveyor belt circulation weakens transport through the indonesian seas decreases by 50 as the warm and saline waters of the equatorial pacific are diverted into the north pacific in our idealized experiments the enhanced global deep water formation is balanced by an increase in diapycnal mixing as a result nutrient concentrations in the euphotic zone increase by about 25 globally leading to a 20 increase in global export production the effect of greater export production on atmospheric pco 2 is however compensated by the enhanced transport of dissolved inorganic carbon dic to the surface as a result the atmospheric co 2 concentration increases by only 5 ppmv our results further suggest that the absence of the subarctic halocline for instance during heinrich event 1 and the pliocene may have exerted a strong influence on global climate and the carbon cycle

the atlantic pacific seesaw abstract a global oceanic teleconnection of salinity meridional overturning circulation moc and climate of the north atlantic and north pacific is proposed simulations with a global climate model show that an extraction of freshwater from the pacific results not only in an increase of salinity there but also in a decrease of salinity in the atlantic as a result a pacific moc develops while the atlantic moc collapses without freshwater perturbation in the atlantic similarly an input of freshwater to the atlantic leads not only to a decrease of salinity there but also to an increase of salinity in the pacific the atlantic moc collapses whereas the pacific moc develops without freshwater perturbation in the pacific the mechanism behind this antiphase atlantic pacific relationship is the positive feedback between ocean circulation and salinity contrasts originally proposed by stommel to operate between low and high latitudes here the authors show that the same mechanism operates on the atlan

benthic foraminiferal δ13c and accumulation rates of organic carbon uvigerina peregrina group and cibicidoides wuellerstorfi the glacial to interglacial 13c records of the benthic foraminifera cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and the uvigerina peregrina group from deep sea cores cannot be adjusted by a generally valid constant the 13c values of the u peregrina group largely correlate with the accumulation rates of organic carbon suggesting a local habitat effect those of c wuellerstorfi vary independently with respect to the carbon flux and record fluctuations in the 13c of the ambient bottom water isotopic composition

a 1 0 myr record of glacial north atlantic intermediate water variability from odp site 982 in the northeast atlantic changes in the intermediate water structure of the north atlantic were reconstructed using benthic foraminiferal 13c at ocean drilling program odp site 982 for the past 1 0 myr during most terminations of the late pleistocene melting of icebergs and low salinity surface waters caused production of glacial north atlantic intermediate water to cease resulting in decreased ventilation of the middepth north atlantic poor ventilation of intermediate water masses lasted well into some interglacial stages until upper north atlantic deep water nadw production resumed under full interglacial conditions the magnitude of benthic 13c minima and ice rafted debris maxima at terminations at site 982 generally match the degree of glacial suppression of nadw inferred from site 607 these processes may be related and controlled by the spatial and seasonal extent of sea ice cover during glaciations in the nordic seas

the origin of the north pacific intermediate water possible source regions of the north pacific intermediate water npiw were investigated with synoptic conductivity temperature depth surveys in the okhotsk sea kuril basin a pycnostad referred to as the okhotsk sea mode water osmw was found in the density range of 26 6 27 the pycnostad is not seen in the western subarctic gyre wsag thus it is an indicative water peculiar to the okhotsk sea the maximum thickness is at 26 7 26 9 centered at 26 8 which coincides with the npiw density range in the north pacific subtropical gyre in the oyashio area east of the southern kuril islands and hokkaido waters that have intermediate temperature salinity and potential vorticity between the osmw and the wsag water were distributed suggesting a following transport route of the npiw source water the thick thus low q q is potential vorticity and low salinity water mass outflowing from the okhotsk sea mixes with the relatively warm saline and high q wsag water to form the oyashio water a coastal part of the oyashio water flows southwestward along the east coast of the southern kuril islands and hokkaido retaining the pycnostad q minimum a large part of the low q oyashio water flows further southward and merges with the kuroshio extension and then flows eastward forming new npiw in this process a salinity minimum develops and the q minimum disappears because of the mixing with a saline kuroshio water old npiw without a pycnostad in the npiw density range these results suggest that the origin of npiw is the water mass in the okhotsk sea osmw and the density of the water mass primarily determines the npiw density centered at around 26 8

changes in the bering sea region atmosphere ice water system in the second half of the twentieth century abstract we examine the long range variability in the oceanographic regime of the bering sea during the second half of the twentieth century using the largest t s data set available containing about 58 000 stations we focus on changes in the ice regime and atmospheric processes over the bering sea and western arctic significant differences in the physical state of the bering sea were found between a group of anomalous cold 1955 1964 1971 1972 1975 1976 1977 1984 1988 years and warm 1958 1959 1962 1963 1967 1978 1981 1982 1987 years the time spatial eof analyses product of the first components show a general cooling in the bering sea in 1953 1977 and 1978 1993 and a strong warming in 1977 1978 likewise the spatial distribution of eof temperature 2 4 components indicates opposite thermal states in the western and eastern part of the bering sea if it becomes warmer in the eastern sector it becomes cooler in the western interaction between the aleutian low and siberian high determines the change over the bering sea region

reduced upwelling of nutrient and carbon rich water in the subarctic pacific during the mid pleistocene transition abstract reduction in atmospheric pco2 has been hypothesised as a causal mechanism for the mid pleistocene transition mpt which saw global cooling and increased duration of glacials between 0 6 and 1 2 ma sea ice modulated high latitude upwelling and ocean atmospheric co2 flux is considered a potential mechanism for pco2 decline although there are no long term nutrient upwelling records from high latitude regions to test this hypothesis using nitrogen isotopes and opal mass accumulation rates from 0 to 1 2 ma we calculate a continuous high resolution nutrient upwelling index for the bering sea and assess possible changes to regional co2 fluxes and to the relative control of sea ice sea level and glacial north pacific intermediate water gnpiw on deep mixing and nutrient upwelling in the region we find nutrient upwelling in the bering sea correlates with global ice volume and air temperature throughout the study interval from 1 ma and particularly during the 900 ka event suppressed nutrient upwelling would have lowered oceanic fluxes of co2 to the atmosphere supporting a reduction in global pco2 during the mpt this timing is consistent with a pronounced increase in sea ice during the early pleistocene and restriction of flow through the bering strait during glacials after 900 ka both of which would have acted to suppress upwelling we suggest that sea level modulated gnpiw expansion during glacials after 900 ka was the dominant control on subarctic pacific upwelling strength during the mid late pleistocene while sea ice variability played a secondary role

paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic north pacific for pleistocene glacial terminations i to v our study addresses fundamental questions of the mode and timing of orbital and millennial scale changes in the meridional overturning circulation moc of the subarctic north pacific particular concerns are the vertical mixing the present and past abundance of nutrients in surface waters despite strong stratification and the north pacific north atlantic seesaw of oscillations in sea surface temperature sst we do this by generating and interpreting multiple records for glacial terminations i v down two long piston cores one each from the western and eastern subarctic pacific chlorins and biogenic opal are proxies for surface water productivity delta 13 c of epibenthic foraminifera is a record of deepwater ventilation and the delta 13 c of n pachyderma sin is a tracer of nutrients in subsurface waters that extend up to the sea surface during times of vertical mixing the degree of mixing is traced by pairing sst and delta 18 o records of planktic surface and subsurface pycnocline dwellers tight age control is deduced from a suite of age calibrated 14 c plateau boundaries for termination i and benthic delta 18 o and geomagnetic events for the last 800 ka carbon 14 paleoreservoir ages record the ages of surface and deep waters to uncover short term changes in moc over termination i we have defined a standard sequence of short term productivity events for termination i also evident during terminations ii to v and subsequent interglacials over the last 450 ka the peak glacial regime of stable stratification and low productivity terminated together with the end of ice rafting and melting near 17 ka similar to 2000 years after the onset of termination i pulses of vertical mixing and incursion of warm surface waters from the subtropics followed convected young water masses finally penetrated down to 3600 m water depth at 17 0 to less than 14 5 ka significantly improving bottom water ventilation through the late deglacial and earliest interglacial mixing with upwelled nutrients from the pycnocline induced short term maxima in algal production of chlorins and biogenic opal near 17 15 and 15 12 ka respectively deglacial meltwater incursions in the aleutian current and silica input from north american rivers also promoted east pacific productivity after 15 5 ka productivity decreased during the late deglacial and early interglacial coeval with an exceptional peak in caco 3 preservation caused by both low organic flux and well ventilated deepwater subsequently low salinity and cool surface waters and in turn stratification were gradually restored a second opal dominated productivity maximum marked the ends of interglacials the deglacial pulses of vertical mixing around 17 11 ka imply an important contribution of the north pacific to the coeval release of oceanic co 2 into the atmosphere and support the east west seesaw model of climate change

determination of carbonate bound barium in foraminifera and corals by isotope dilution plasma mass spectrometry abstract the trace metal content of biogenic carbonates reflects seawater concentrations only if one can selectively determine the portion of metal bound into the ca lattice site we have developed a procedure to purify benthic foraminifera shells of extraneous sedimentary organic and diagenetic ba the purification procedure involves treatment similar to those developed for the determination of cd in foraminifera shells but with the addition of an alkaline dtpa step to dissolve away sedimentary barite associated with the shells paired sample studies and partial dissolution of benthic foraminifera confirm the effectiveness of this procedure ba ca is determined on the purified shells by measurement of ba by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry id icp ms and ca by flame atomic absorption long term precision of the foraminifera ba ca determinations is between 2 and 3 we have also developed a rapid procedure for id icp ms determination of ba in aragonite coral samples with routine precisions of

late quaternary paleoceanographic changes in the bering sea and the western subarctic pacific based on radiolarian assemblages seven piston cores were obtained from the bering sea and the western subarctic pacific during cruise kh99 3 of r v hakuho maru in august 1999 cores bow 8a bow 9a bow 12a ab umk 3a gat 3a in the bering sea and core es in the western subarctic pacific the quantitative high resolution analyses of radiolarians in the cores revealed significant variations in both their faunal assemblages and accumulation rates ar a trend of conspicuous turn over of the surface dwellers and intermediate dwellers increase of one at expense of the other after the last glacial maximum lgm is clearly visible in the bering sea data set however this turn over is not present at site es in the western subarctic pacific core these changes in radiolarian assemblages around the lgm suggest that the surface waters had extremely low temperature and low salinity and that the subsurface dichothermal layer temperature minimum layer was thickened all the way across the entire east west span of the bering sea furthermore sea ice coverage extended to the central aleutian basin around the lgm this suggests that the water mass structure in the western subarctic pacific around the lgm was basically the same as that of the eastern bering sea based on the species composition of the surface dwellers however the detailed development of intermediate water masses differed from that of the eastern bering sea during marine isotope stage mis 5 to 3 such species turn over events did not occur and species abundance stayed relatively uniform in the studied cores therefore the present water mass structure is interpreted to have been formed after the lgm based on the relative abundances of cycladophora davisiana the most dominant species dwelling in the intermediate water and a useful tracer of cold and well oxygenated intermediate water in the north pacific the past north pacific intermediate water npiw had the following source regions during the last 100 kyr 1 both the okhotsk sea and the bering sea during mis 5 to 3 2 the bering sea around the lgm and 3 shifting from the bering sea to the okhotsk sea after the lgm relatively low radiolarian ar at site bow 8a which is the shallowest site studied here present water depth 884 m were observed during the glacial periods this is due to decrease of radiolarian production in the thinned upper water layer above the dicothermal layer caused by sea level drop cycladophora davisiana probably lived deeper during the glacials than today as it was absent in the shallow piston core r 2005 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

interior hydrography and circulation of the glacial pacific ocean abstract the deep water of the pacific ocean is a key component of the global climate system on the time scale of late pleistocene glaciation and deglaciation despite its importance the deep pacific during the last glacial maximum has received relatively little attention compared to the deep atlantic in part because the pacific poorly preserves carbonate sediments on the sea floor here we review the current state of knowledge of the deep hydrography and circulation of the glacial pacific by examining available nutrient proxy data including some new 13 c and 18 o data measured on benthic foraminifera planulina wuellerstorfi from the vicinity of japan available benthic 13 c and 18 o and radiocarbon data from the pacific support the presence of a deep hydrographic boundary at around 2000 m during the last glacial maximum paleoceanography 3 1988 343 paleoceanography 7 1992 273 paleoceanography 13 4 1998 323 the deep hydrographic divide in the glacial pacific is similar to what is inferred in the atlantic quaternary research 18 1982 218 paleoceanography 3 1988 317 paleoceanography 3 1988 343 annual reviews of earth planetary sciences 20 1992 245 science 259 1993 1148 the indian nature 333 1988 651 paleoceanography 13 1998 20 and the southern ocean paleoceanography 11 1996 191 suggesting that this is a global phenomenon during the glacial time the upper water mass has a distinctly enriched 13 c compared to the deeper water mass whose possible origins are discussed

evidence for a bathyal front at 2000 m depth in the glacial pacific based on a depth transect on ontong java plateau data on oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of the benthic foraminifer planulina wullerstorfi from 18 cores 17 box cores and one piston core from ontong java plateau provide proxy depth profiles for temperature water mass and nutrient content for the late holocene the last transition and the last glacial the 18o profile during glacial time shows an increased gradient at a depth near 2000 m the corresponding 13c data suggest that a bathyal nutricline existed close to the same depth level the 13c values provide limits on the global change in carbon content of the glacial ocean which may be estimated as distinctly less than 1 atmospheric carbon mass 1 acm 700 gtc the greater co2 content of glacial deep waters which is reflected in the more negative 13c values may be at least in part due to a more sluggish renewal of abyssal deep waters if so the water of the deep pacific was up to 400 years older than now in turn ventilation in the upper waters above 2000 m may have been more vigorous than today

sea level fingerprinting as a direct test for the source of global meltwater pulse ia the ice reservoir that served as the source for the meltwater pulse ia remains enigmatic and controversial we show that each of the melting scenarios that have been proposed for the event produces a distinct variation or fingerprint in the global distribution of meltwater we compare sea level fingerprints associated with various melting scenarios to existing sea level records from barbados and the sunda shelf and conclude that the southern laurentide ice sheet could not have been the sole source of the meltwater pulse whereas a substantial contribution from the antarctic ice sheet is consistent with these records

antarctic temperature and global sea level closely coupled over the past five glacial cycles sea level has varied by over one hundred metres across glacial interglacial cycles over the past 520 000 years an extended sea level reconstruction shows a strong coupling between these sea level changes and antarctic surface temperatures over the past five glacial cycles

millennial scale climate change and intermediate water circulation in the bering sea from 90 ka a high resolution record from iodp site u1340 1 millennial scale climate events in the north pacific are thought to be related to changes in the circulation of north pacific intermediate water which may have formed in the bering sea in the past to advance our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie millennial scale events bering sea sediment cores from the integrated ocean drilling program site u1340 were used to construct high resolution multiproxy climate records of the last 90 000 years sediment density records show millennial scale events resembling dansgaard oeschger events several of which are laminated interstadials were characterized by 3 5 c warming increased productivity driven by upwelling and reduced benthic oxygenation bering sea intermediate water also changed over longer timescales our records show the presence of intermediate water with lower salinity and higher oxygen content than modern beginning around 60 ka and persisting until the beginning of the deglaciation the bolling allerod was characterized by high productivity laminated sediments and strong denitrification signature our data support the idea that productivity derived changes in oxygenation at intermediate water source regions may have contributed to the intensification of the north pacific wide oxygen minima during the bolling allerod

cyclone climatology of the bering sea and its relation to sea ice extent abstract a monthly storm track climatology is derived from monthly maps of cyclone tracks for the winter season october through march averaged over 23 years 1957 58 1979 80 for a 2 latitude 4 longitude grid bounded by 51 n 65 n 157 w and 171 e there is a decrease in the number of cyclones with latitude in all months and division into two storm tracks one propagating north northeast along the siberian peninsula and one entering the southern bering sea on a northeasterly course and either curving northward into the central bering sea or continuing parallel to the aleutian island chain monthly average ice extents are established for february and march 1958 80 along a line from norton sound southwest toward the ice edge perpendicular to the average maximum extent comparison of composite cyclone charts summed over the winter season and over the five heaviest and five lightest ice years shows a shift in cyclone centers toward the west in light ice years the correlation between maximum seasonal ice

abrupt changes of intermediate water properties on the northeastern slope of the bering sea during the last glacial and deglacial period 1 millennial scale variability in the behavior of north pacific intermediate water during the last glacial and deglacial period and its association with dansgaard oeschger d o cycles and heinrich events are examined based on benthic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotopes 18obf and 13cbf and caco3 using a sediment core recovered from the northeastern slope of the bering sea a suite of positive 18obf excursions at intermediate depths of the bering sea which seem at least in part associated with increases in the 18obf gradients between the bering and okhotsk seas suggest the bering sea as a proximate source of intermediate water during several severe stadial episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period absence of such 18obf gradients during periods of high surface productivity in the bering and okhotsk seas which we correlate to d o interstadials suggests a reduction in intermediate water production in the bering sea and subsequent introduction of nutrient rich deep waters from the north pacific into intermediate depths of the bering sea we argue that a reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the high latitude north pacific during severe cold episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period created favorable conditions for brine rejection in the northeastern bering sea the resulting salinity increase in the cold surface waters could have initiated intermediate and deep water formation that spread out to the north pacific

effects of a shelf polynya on flow and water properties in the northern bering sea we present long term 230 day measurements from three moorings in the vicinity of saint lawrence island on the northern bering sea shelf one mooring was deployed near the polynya which often exists south of the island these data confirm the existence of strong 0 15 m s 1 flow toward bering strait northwest of the island in anadyr strait and suggest that regional circulation results in a moderate 0 03 5 m s 1 mean flow eastward along the southern coast of saint lawrence island coherent variations in the regional circulation and variations in the geostrophic wind account for much of the low frequency current fluctuation south of saint lawrence island however there were 11 events when offshore northerly winds coincided with the temperature following the freezing point increasing salinity and reversal of the current this suggests that ice formation and the ensuing brine rejection affect flow in the vicinity of the polynya scaling of a simplified momentum equation indicates that the cross shelf density gradient was a possible mechanism for some of the reversals salinity data show a seasonal cycle as well as individual events of brine rejection during an average event time of 65 hours the salinity increased by 8 10 3 g kg 1 h 1 the heat flux can be estimated as 535 wm 2 these fluxes correspond to an ice production of 5 m during winter 1981 extrapolation of our results and comparison with the freshwater cycle suggest that brine rejection is an important component of the regional salt budget

direct ventilation of the north pacific did not reach the deep ocean during the last deglaciation 1 despite its tremendous size the deep north pacific has received relatively little attention by paleoceanographers it was recently suggested that the deep north pacific was directly ventilated by dense waters formed in the subarctic pacific during heinrich stadial 1 hs1 of the early deglaciation here we present new redox sensitive trace metal data from a sediment core at 2393 m in the subarctic pacific in comparison with previously published data from elsewhere in the region the combined picture shows no sign of ventilation during the early deglaciation in any available core from water depths of 2393 m and deeper while the deepest core to display clear signs of enhanced ventilation during hs1 was raised from 1366 m water depth thus it appears likely that although the north pacific was well ventilated to intermediate depths during hs1 the deep ocean did not receive a significant input of dense waters from a local source but remained isolated from the surface waters above

a 300 kyr record of aridity and wind strength in southwestern africa inferences from grain size distributions of sediments on walvis ridge se atlantic abstract the terrigenous fraction of sediments recovered from walvis ridge se atlantic ocean reveals a history of southwestern african climate of the last 300 kyr end member modelling of a data set of grain size distributions n 428 results in three end members the two coarsest end members are interpreted as eolian dust the third end member as hemipelagic mud the ratio of the two eolian end members reflects the eolian grain size and is attributed to the intensity of the se trade winds trade winds were intensified during glacials compared to interglacials changes in the ratio of the two eolian end members over the hemipelagic one are interpreted as variations in southwestern african aridity late quaternary southwestern african climate was relatively arid during the interglacial stages and relatively humid during the glacial stages owing to meridional shifts in the atmospheric circulation system during glacials the polar front shifted equatorward resulting in a northward displacement of the zone of westerlies causing increased rainfall in southwestern africa the equatorward shift of the polar front is coupled with an increase of the meridional pressure gradient leading to enhanced atmospheric circulation and increased trade wind intensity

chlorofluorocarbon evidence for recent ventilation of the deep bering sea the pattern of the global thermohaline circulation of today s oceans is controlled by deep water formation at the northern and southern limits of the atlantic the apparent lack of deep water formation in the north pacific on the other hand suggests that this ocean plays only a minor role in the global circulation but it is unclear whether this was also the case during periods of glaciation there is conflicting evidence in the sedimentary record for the existence of a deep water source in the north pacific during the last glacial maximum1 4 here we report the detection of anthropogenic chlorofluorocarbons in the bottom waters of the aleutian basin in the eastern bering sea which suggests that a small amount of bottom water has formed in this region during the past 40 years although the small volumes of water involved are unlikely to play a significant role in determining present day global circulation patterns the results lend credence to the possibility that this sea was an important source of deep water for the northwestern pacific ocean during the last glacial maximum

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

the deglacial history of surface and intermediate water of the bering sea the lithology of deglacial sediments from the bering sea includes intervals of laminated or dysaerobic sediments these intervals are contemporaneous with the occurrence of laminated sediments from the california margin and gulf of california which suggests widespread low oxygen conditions at intermediate depths in the north pacific ocean the cause could be reduced intermediate water ventilation increased organic carbon flux or a combination of the two we infer abrupt decreases of planktonic foraminifer d 18 o at 14 400 and 11 650 yr bp which may be a combination of both freshening and warming on the shirshov ridge the abundance of sea ice diatoms of the genus nitzschia reach local maxima twice during the deglaciation the latter of which may be an expression of the younger dryas these findings expand the extent of the expression of deglacial millennial scale climate events to include the northernmost pacific r 2005 elsevier ltd all rights reserved