variability of the north atlantic thermohaline circulation during the last interglacial period studies of natural climate variability are essential for evaluating its future evolution greenland ice cores suggest that the modern warm period the holocene has been relatively stable for the past 9 000 years much less is known about other warm interglacial periods which comprise less than 10 of the climate record during the past 2 5 million years here we present high resolution ocean sediment records of surface and deep water variables from the bermuda rise spanning the last interglacial period about 118 000 127 000 years ago in general deep water chemical changes are coincident with transitions in surface climate at this site the records do not show any substantial fluctuations relative to the much higher variability observed during the preceding and subsequent cool climates the relatively stable interglacial period begins and ends with abrupt changes in deep water flow we estimate using 230 th measurements to constrain the chronology that transitions occur in less than 400 years

calibration of the planktonic foraminiferal mg ca paleothermometer sediment trap results from the guaymas basin gulf of california 1 the mg ca ratio has been measured in two surface dwelling species of planktonic foraminifera globigerinoides ruber and globigerina bulloides from biweekly sediment trap samples collected in guaymas basin gulf of california between august 1992 and november 1997 the guaymas basin experiences significant seasonal changes in sea surface temperature sst 16 33 c and thus is an ideal location for testing the temperature dependence of mg incorporation into foraminiferal calcite the planktonic foraminiferal mg ca ratios are directly compared with concurrent temperature measurements from the study site the results from the sediment trap study reveal a strong positive correlation between sst and the mg ca ratio in both g ruber r2 0 86 and g bulloides r2 0 90 the mg ca ratio increases exponentially by 7 per 1 c change in temperature for g ruber and by 6 for g bulloides these results indicate that the mg ca ratio in g ruber and g bulloides accurately records the measured seasonal surface temperature cycle and interannual variability in the guaymas basin within 1 c the greatest deviation between mg ca estimated sst and observed sst occurs in the spring and fall for both species this variability is attributed to rapidly changing hydrographic conditions and possible offset between the time of calcification and the temperature measurements in addition g ruber and g bulloides exhibit very high mg ca ratios during the strong el nino southern oscillation years of 1992 and 1997 verifying their potential to record sst up to 33 c and 28 c respectively the trace metal data are compared with foraminiferal oxygen isotope and alkenone measurements made on the same suite of sediment trap samples to assess the internal consistency of these temperature proxies strong correlations exist between the 18o and mg ca for g ruber r2 0 86 and g bulloides r2 0 79 similarly sea surface temperature estimates from mg ca ratios are in good agreement with alkenone derived temperature estimates r2 0 89 for g ruber and r2 0 81 for g bulloides

the salinity temperature and δ18o of the glacial deep ocean we use pore fluid measurements of the chloride concentration and the oxygen isotopic composition from ocean drilling program cores to reconstruct salinity and temperature of the deep ocean during the last glacial maximum lgm our data show that the temperatures of the deep pacific southern and atlantic oceans during the lgm were relatively homogeneous and within error of the freezing point of seawater at the ocean s surface our chloride data show that the glacial stratification was dominated by salinity variations in contrast with the modern ocean for which temperature plays a primary role during the lgm the southern ocean contained the saltiest water in the deep ocean this reversal of the modern salinity contrast between the north and south atlantic implies that the freshwater budget at the poles must have been quite different a strict conversion of mean salinity at the lgm to equivalent sea level change yields a value in excess of 140 meters however the storage of fresh water in ice shelves and or groundwater reserves implies that glacial salinity is a poor predictor of mean sea level

tropical atlantic coral oxygen isotopes glacial interglacial sea surface temperatures and climate change abstract we have generated a detailed oxygen isotope time series from the fossil coral reefs from offshore barbados the barbados coral based record is a unique paleoceanographic data set with an equivalent sedimentation rate in excess of 600 cm kyr where not only is the annual signal uniquely preserved but seasonality as well oxygen isotope values during the late glacial and lgm 16 20 14c kyrs 19 24 calendar kyrs are 2 3 heavier than corresponding living specimens and indicate a regional cooling on the order of 4 5 c there is also an isotopic expression of the bolling pre boreal climate oscillation with values reflecting a cooling during the younger dryas seasonality a key diagnostic of the state of the climate system remained the same or slightly less than present and indicates that the observed coolings were a change in the mean state of the western tropical atlantic pan tropic cooling during the last glaciation is best explained by a change in the radiative balance of the tropics variable tropical sea surface temperatures during climate oscillations such as the younger dryas challenge the paradigm that climate change only cascades from variations in north atlantic deep water production

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

late quaternary variations in calcium carbonate preservation of deep sea sediments in the northern cape basin results from a multiproxy approach in this study we test various parameters in deep sea sediments bulk sediment parameters and changes in microfossil abundances and preservation character which are generally accepted as indicators of calcium carbonate dissolution we investigate sediment material from station geob 1710 3 in the northern cape basin eastern south atlantic 280 km away from the namibian coast well outside today s coastal upwelling as northern benguela upwelling cells were displaced westward and periodically preceded the core location during the past 245 kyr volbers et al submitted geob 1710 3 sediments reflect these changes in upwelling productivity results of the most commonly used calcium carbonate dissolution proxies do not only monitor dissolution within these calcareous sediments but also reflect changes in upwelling intensity accordingly these conventional proxy parameters misrepresent to some extent the extent of calcium carbonate dissolution these results were verified by an independent dissolution proxy the globigerina bulloides dissolution index bdxp volbers and henrich submitted the bdxp is based on scanning electronic microscope ultrastructural investigation of planktonic foraminiferal tests and indicates persistent good carbonate preservation throughout the past 245 kyr with the exception of one pronounced dissolution event at early oxygen isotopic stage ois 6 the early ois 6 is characterized by calcium carbonate contents sand contents and planktonic foraminiferal concentrations all at their lowest levels for the last 245 kyr at the same time the ratio of radiolarian to planktonic foraminiferal abundances and the ratio of benthic to planktonic foraminiferal tests are strongly increased as are the rain ratio the fragmentation index and the bdxp the sedimentary calcite lysocline rose above the core position and geob 1710 3 sediments were heavily altered as attested to by the unusual accumulation of pellets aggregates sponge spicules radiolaria benthic foraminifera and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages solely the early ois 6 dissolution event altered the coarse fraction intensely and is therefore reflected by all conventional calcium carbonate preservation proxies and the bdxp we attribute the more than 1000 m rise of the sedimentary calcite lysocline to the combination of two processes a a prominent change in the deep water mass distribution within the south atlantic and b intense degradation of organic material within the sediment preserved as maximum total organic carbon content creating microenvironments favorable for calcium carbonate

reevaluation of the caco3 size index paleocarbonate ion proxy measurements of the caco3 size index broecker and clark 1999 and of whole foraminifera shell weights lohmann 1995 on glacial age sediment from a series of water depths on the ceara rise in the west equatorial atlantic clearly demonstrate that the relationship between size index and pressure normalized carbonate ion concentration established for holocene equatorial sediments does not apply to glacial sediments rather it appears that the ratio of fine to coarse caco3 raining to the seafloor was greater during glacial time than during the holocene this finding squelches our previous enthusiasm regarding the application of the size index as a paleocarbonate ion proxy

improving temperature estimates derived from mg ca of planktonic foraminifera using x ray computed tomography based dissolution index xdx 1 temperatures derived from mg ca ratios of the calcite tests of planktonic foraminifera are distorted when samples are partially dissolved and methods are required to quantify this source of inaccuracy here we compare a dissolution index xdx based on x ray computed tomography scans to mg ca of four species of foraminifera g ruber white g sacculifer without sac n dutertrei and p obliquiloculata from core top sediments from the tropical pacific atlantic and western indian ocean deepwater calcite saturation values co32 at the sites ranged from 55 to 23 mol kg an estimate of mg ca reduction in mg ca due to dissolution was made for each sample mg ca decreased linearly from deepwater co32 values of between 10 4 and 15 5 mol kg these values are minimum estimates of the threshold below which mg ca is affected by dissolution as they are limited by assumptions made in calculating mg ca sensitivity of mg ca to co32 was greatest for g ruber where mg ca decreased by 0 102 0 036 mmol mol per mol kg sensitivity was similar for g sacculifer 0 047 0 015 mmol mol per mol kg n dutertrei 0 037 0 010 mmol mol per mol kg and p obliquiloculata 0 040 0 008 mmol mol per mol kg sensitivity was similar at all sites for each species excepting an apparently greater response for n dutertrei from the caribbean compared to other sites calibrations between xdx and mg ca provide a means to estimate dissolution bias on mg ca poor correlation between xdx and 18o suggests that for the small sample size typical for analysis variability in initial 18o overwhelms dissolution effects

deepwater source variations during the last climatic cycle and their impact on the global deepwater circulation the degree of similarity of the 13c records of the planktonic foraminiferal species n pachyderma and of the benthic foraminiferal genus cibicides in the high latitude basins of the world ocean is used as an indicator of the presence of deepwater sources during the last climatic cycle whereas continuous formation of deep water is recognized in the southern ocean the norwegian sea stopped acting as a sink for surface water during isotope stage 4 and the remainder of the last glaciation however deep water formed in the north atlantic south of the norwegian sea during the last climatic cycle as early as isotope substage 5d and this area was also the only active northern source during stages 4 2 a detailed reconstruction of the geographic distribution of 13c in benthic foraminifera in the atlantic ocean during the last glacial maximum shows that the most important deepwater mass originated from the southern ocean whereas the glacial north atlantic deep water cannot be traced south of 40 n at shallower depth an oxygenated 13c rich intermediate water mass extended from 45 n to 15 s in the pacific ocean a ventilation higher than the modern one was also found in open ocean in the depth range 700 2600 m and is best explained by stronger formation of intermediate water in high northern latitudes

caco3 dissolution in sediments of the ceara rise western equatorial atlantic we have used porewater sampling by in situ techniques including whole core squeezing as well as by shipboard sectioning and whole core squeezing to estimate the rates of sedimentary organic matter oxidation and caco3 dissolution at seven sites on the ceara rise in the western equatorial atlantic ocean porewater no3 profiles at all sites show a pattern indicative of active organic matter oxidation in the upper 15 20 cm of the sediments and in a buried organic rich layer the organic c oxidation rate generally decreases with increasing water depth from a value of 22 mol cm2 y at the shallowest site 3279 m to 14 mol cm2 y at the deepest site 4675 m over this depth range the bottomwaters vary from moderately supersaturated with respect to calcite to strongly undersaturated high resolution alkalinity profiles measured in porewaters collected by in situ whole core squeezing yield estimated ca2 fluxes of 11 mol cm2 y at a site located at the depth of the calcite saturation horizon and 7 6 zmol cm2 y at a moderately undersaturated site ca2 fluxes calculated from profiles in porewaters collected by relatively coarse resolution in situ sampling methods clearly indicate that there is caco3 dissolution above the calcite saturation horizon the dissolution of aragonite may contribute to the dissolution flux at the shallowest site these ca2 fluxes as well as fluxes estimated from a model of sedimentary organic matter oxidation and calcite dissolution indicate that 36 66 of the caco3 rain to the seafloor dissolves at sites at and above the calcite saturation horizon while 52 75 of the rain dissolves at sites below this depth when these results are incorporated into the oceanic caco3 budget of milliman 1993 they indicate that 35 of caco3 production is preserved in the deep sea they suggest a caco3 accumulation rate that is 27 lower than that estimated by milliman 1993 our corg oxidation caco3 dissolution model indicates that a large fraction of the caco3 dissolution that is occurring on the ceara rise is attributable to the neutralization of metabolic acids produced during organic matter oxidation the efficiency with which organic matter oxidation dissolves caco3 that is the ratio caco3 dissolution attributable to organic matter oxidation organic matter oxidation rate generally increases as degree of undersaturation of bottomwaters increases however there are deviations from the general trend that can be attributed to site to site variations in the kinetics of organic matter oxidation and calcite dissolution this result indicates that the dissolution of caco3 as a result of organic matter oxidation in the deep sea may mask the effects of variations in surface water caco3 productivity and bottomwater chemistry on the accumulation rate of caco3 in deep sea sediments

western equatorial pacific deep water carbonate chemistry during the last glacial maximum and deglaciation using planktic foraminiferal mg ca to reconstruct sea surface temperature and seafloor dissolution 1 we present a reconstruction of deep water carbonate saturation state co32 in the western equatorial pacific for the last glacial maximum lgm and deglaciation based on changes in the mg ca ratio of planktic foraminifers with increased water depth our data suggest there have been changes in bottom water co32 over the past 25 000 years at water depths as shallow as 1 6 km the co32 reconstruction for the lgm suggests co32 was similar or slightly higher than modern values between 1 6 and 2 0 km shifting sharply to lower values an average 30 mol kg lower below 2 5 km the shift in chemistry between 2 0 and 2 5 km supports a hypothesis that pacific overturning circulation occurred deeper during the lgm with a slightly more ventilated water mass above 2 0 km the data are not consistent with enhanced preservation in this region of the deep pacific at depths greater than 2 5 km suggesting that the long held view of better preservation throughout the glacial deep pacific must be reevaluated for the deglaciation we have evidence of a co32 maximum that suggests enhanced deglacial preservation between 1 6 and 4 0 km in comparison to the holocene and the lgm the deglacial co32 was as much as 28 mol kg higher than modern between 1 6 and 4 0 km results suggest carbonate burial rates were 1 5 times greater during the deglacial than the over the past 5 kyr

accurate estimation of sea surface temperatures using dissolution corrected calibrations for mg ca paleothermometry 1 paired 18o and mg ca measurements on the same foraminiferal shells offer the ability to independently estimate sea surface temperature sst changes and assess their temporal relationship to the growth and decay of continental ice sheets the accuracy of this method is confounded however by the absence of a quantitative method to correct mg ca records for alteration by dissolution here we describe dissolution corrected calibrations for mg ca paleothermometry in which the preexponent constant is a function of size normalized shell weight 1 for g ruber 212 300 m mg ca ruber 0 025 wt 0 11 e0 095t and b for g sacculifer 355 425 m mg ca sacc 0 0032 wt 0 181 e0 095t the new calibrations improve the accuracy of sst estimates and are globally applicable with this correction eastern equatorial atlantic sst during the last glacial maximum is estimated to be 2 9 0 4 c colder than today

glacial age deep sea carbonate ion concentrations 1 a second stab is taken at the reconstruction of the distribution of carbonate ion concentration in the deep tropical pacific and atlantic oceans it takes into account glacial to holocene changes in size normalized initial shell weights it adopts a more rigorous relationship between measured core top shell weights and pressure normalized co3 concentrations and it employs an expanded glacial data set while the conclusion that the effective glacial co3 ion concentration decreased with water depth when greater initial shell weights for glacial age shells are adopted the conclusion is that dissolution during glacial time exceeded that during the late holocene this conclusion is seemingly at odds with previous studies of deep pacific sediments all of which suggest that more extensive dissolution occurred during periods of interglaciation than during periods of glaciation

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

paired benthic foraminiferal cd ca and zn ca evidence for a greatly increased presence of southern ocean water in the glacial north atlantic benthic foraminiferal 13c and cd ca studies suggest that deep atlantic circulation during the last glacial maximum was very different from today with high nutrient low 13c high cd deep southern ocean water sow penetrating far into the north atlantic however if some glacial 13c values are biased by productivity artifacts and or air sea exchange processes then the existing 13c data may be consistent with the continual dominance of north atlantic deep water nadw cibicidoides wuellerstorfi cd ca results presented here indicate that the glacial north atlantic was strongly enriched in dissolved cd below 2500 m depth if nadw formation was still vigorous relative to sow formation these data could be explained by either increased preformed nutrient levels in the high latitude north atlantic or by increased organic matter remineralization within lower nadw high glacial zn ca values in the same samples however are best explained by a substantially increased mixing with zn rich sow the cause was most likely a partial replacement of nadw by less dense glacial north atlantic intermediate water this reorganization also lowered deep north atlantic co32 concentrations by perhaps 10 to 15 mol kg 1

changes in the vertical structure of the north atlantic ocean between glacial and modern times the distribution of planktic foraminiferal 18o over the north atlantic ocean has been interpreted by duplessy et al 1991 1992 in terms of the distribution of surface water salinity during the last glacial maximum lgm and the younger dryas yd we present here the implications of this surface salinity distribution for changes in deep convection during these periods temperature salinity density diagrams of the water column have been constructed using the plancktic and benthic foraminifera 18o values together with sea surface temperature estimates obtained by using micropaleontological transfer functions the precision of these reconstructions is limited by the remaining uncertainties in the two basic assumptions upon which the methods are based the sea surface temperature reconstruction by climap are valid within the statistical uncertainties the water salinity 18o relationship is well constrained for surface and intermediate ocean waters a significant difference between the modern and the reconstructed glacial water structure is observed during the lgm the modern relatively warm and salty norwegian sea surface water and the north atlantic deep water nadw were replaced by low salinity surface water in the northern atlantic ocean and the norwegian sea and cold deep water 0 1 c however surface water salinity in the central north atlantic ocean 52 54 n 25 40 w was sufficiently high to permit deep water convection as a source of north atlantic intermediate and deep waters open ocean convection at the northern limit of the subtropical surface waters around 40 n may have contributed to the ventilation of the intermediate waters the waters deeper than 2000 m were the result of mixing between poorly oxygenated southern waters and well ventilated north atlantic deep waters a similar reconstruction for the cold yd period indicates that the modern type of circulation with warm and ventilated nadw was largely in operation and that the hydrologic pattern was different from that prevailing during the lgm

glacial interglacial differences in circulation and carbon cycling within the upper western north atlantic we investigated glacial interglacial changes in the circulation and carbon cycling in the western north atlantic subtropical gyre using hydrographic data and downcore records of the stable isotopic compositions of individual shells of bahamian benthic foraminifera potential temperature salinity depth relations show that modern thermocline 200 1000 m and deep 1000 2000 m waters in the providence channels bahamas originate in the sargasso sea and are typical of the subtropical gyre gradients in the stable isotopic compositions of late holocene planulina and cibicidoides species from the bank margins 400 to 1500 m depth reflect temperature nutrient and isotopic gradients of modern subtropical gyre waters the difference between the 18o of glacial maximum and late holocene foraminifera is 2 1 for the upper 900 m of the water column and 1 6 for deeper waters indicating that these waters were 4 c and 2 c cooler respectively during glacial time the glacial temperature gradient dt dz was similar to today while the base of the thermocline was 100 m shallower these results differ significantly from our earlier results from multiple shell 18o analyses which implied upper thermocline waters were only 1 c cooler and dt dz was greater during the glacial maximum the difference occurs because bioturbation adversely affects multiple shell analyses of glacial aged samples from shallow water depths at all depths above 1500 m foraminiferal 13c are greater during the glacial maximum than the late holocene by at least 0 1 to 0 2 as much as 0 6 in the lower thermocline indicating that nutrient concentrations throughout the thermocline were reduced and there was no oxygen minimum zone during the glacial maximum this suggests greater more uniform ventilation of the thermocline results of single and multiple shell 13c analyses of glacial age foraminifera compare favorably because samples most affected by mixing correspond to water depths where the glacial interglacial change of 13c was small cooler upper ocean waters during the glacial maximum reflect cooler temperatures at the ocean surface where isopycnal surfaces outcrop including large areas of the subtropical ocean a shallower thermocline base is consistent with southward migration of the northern edge of the subtropical gyre or increased mode water production enhanced thermocline ventilation is consistent with more vigorous winds and all isopycnal surfaces outcropping in the area of ekman downwelling

glacial to holocene redistribution of carbonate ion in the deep sea we have reconstructed the glacial age distribution of carbonate ion concentration in the deep waters of the equatorial ocean on the basis of differences in weight between glacial and holocene foraminifera shells picked from a series of cores spanning a range of water depth on the western atlantic s ceara rise and the western pacific s ontong java plateau the results suggest that unlike today s ocean sizable vertical gradients in the carbonate ion concentration existed in the glacial age deep ocean in the equatorial pacific the concentration increased with depth and in the atlantic it decreased with depth in addition the contrast between the carbonate ion concentration in deep waters produced in the northern atlantic and deep water in the pacific appears to have been larger than in today s ocean

calibration of the mg ca of globorotalia truncatulinoides r for the reconstruction of marine temperature gradients 1 recent work has provided useful mg ca to water temperature calibrations for shallow dwelling planktonic foraminifer species globorotalia truncatulinoides right coiling r is a deep dwelling species that can serve as a source of information about the temporal variability in the water characteristics of the thermocline we present a temperature calibration for the mg ca in the shell of g truncatulinoides r and examine some of the practical issues associated with evaluating the usefulness of the technique the mg ca in the primary and the secondary calcite of individual g truncatulinoides r correlates exponentially with water column temperatures showing a change of 10 in the mg ca per 1 c r2 0 92 a limited comparison with plankton tow samples demonstrates that the average mg ca temperature was offset 1 c from the average temperature calculated using the 18o calibration of o neil et al 1969 and the mg ca temperatures have a range similar to the 18o temperatures comparisons of the mg in the core top samples to water depth of deposition indicates that dissolution does not alter the measured value of mg in the primary calcite

mg ca variation in planktonic foraminifera tests implications for reconstructing palaeo seawater temperature and habitat migration the nature of compositional variability within the tiny calcitic shells tests that are precipitated by planktonic foraminifera has been investigated using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms systematic large and correlated variation of mg ca mn ca ba ca and zn ca but relatively uniform sr ca are observed through the test walls of analysed species globigerinoides sacculifer globigerinoides ruber neogloboquadrina pachyderma and neogloboquadrina dutertrei distinct chamber and chamber wall layer compositions can be resolved within individual tests and mg ca compositional differences observed in sequentially precipitated test components of the different species analysed are consistent with seawater temperature changes occurring with habitat migration during their adult life cycle stages estimated test calcification temperatures are in keeping with available seawater temperature constraints indicating the potential for accurate seawater temperature reconstruction using la icp ms mg rich 1 6 mol mg surface veneers that are also enriched in mn ba and zn have been found on all species and all fossil tests as well as on live sampled tests of g ruber with the latter suggesting a possible biogenic origin these mg rich surfaces bias bulk test compositions toward higher mg ca values by between 5 and 35

variations in mg ca and sr ca ratios of planktonic foraminifera caused by postdepositional dissolution evidence of shallow mg dependent dissolution a comparative study has been made of two species of planktonic foraminifera g tumida and g sacculifer in a depth transect on the ontong java plateau western equatorial pacific g tumida tests from core top sediments showed decreasing mg ca 2 65 1 25 mmol mol and sr ca 1 50 1 16 mmol mol ratios with increasing water depth 1600 4400 m while no such variation was found in g sacculifer tests in excess of 355 m average mg ca 3 6 mmol mol sr ca 1 4 mmol mol artificial dissolution of g tumida tests led to a decrease in both mg ca and sr ca but in g sacculifer there was no significant change in the ratios analyses by electron microprobe revealed that mg ca of the inner chamber calcite in g tumida tests was much higher than that of the calcite crust keel whereas sr ca was only slightly elevated there were no consistent spatial differences in either mg ca or sr ca for g sacculifer tests dissolution in the oceans gives rise to the removal of the chamber calcite in g tumida about 30 of the total calcite leaving the keel calcite although g tumida is thought of as a dissolution resistant form the majority of mg ca and sr ca depletion and chamber loss occurs above the lysocline it is also possible that much of the mg enriched gametogenic calcite has been lost by dissolution from g sacculifer above 1600 m mg content has a significant effect on the dissolution susceptibility of planktonic foraminifera calculations show that the saturation horizon for mg rich parts of tests may be elevated by several hundred meters compared with normal calcite

vertical distribution and isotopic fractionation of living planktonic foraminifera from the panama basin a model1 2 which explains the vertical and seasonal distribution of planktonic foraminifera was developed using data from the western north atlantic and is comprised of three tenets 1 the conditions in the photic zone upper 80 100 m exclusively dictate planktonic foraminifera species composition and abundance throughout the water column 2 species are vertically stratified within the photic zone according to their temperature preference depth distribution according to temperature preference has been proposed by several authors3 based on isotope analyses of sediments due to seasonal temperature variations seasonal variations in the 18o composition of seawater and species specific isotope fractionation rigorous proof of this hypothesis cannot be provided from sediment analyses alone 3 the chlorophyll maximum is a major food source zone which is preferentially exploited by foraminifera our data from the panama basin which are presented here are confirmation of this model the panama basin in the eastern equatorial pacific which has a shallow and steep thermocline was sampled for living planktonic foraminifera a multiple opening closing net and environmental sensing system mocness 4 was used to collect 13 sets of eight vertically stratified oblique samples we report here the quantitative distribution and stable isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera from four mocness tows taken over 5 days during august 1979 rv knorr cruise 73 at 5 20 n 8 50 w each tow consisted of eight samples which integrated 12 5 m intervals from 0 to 100 m for moc 126 25 m intervals from 0 to 200 m for moc 127 100 150 m intervals from 0 to 1 000 m on moc 128 and 250 m intervals from 0 to 2 000 m on moc 131

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

temporal changes in north atlantic circulation constrained by planktonic foraminiferal shell weights records of planktonic foraminiferal shell weights for globigerina bulloides covering termination i from four proximal sites at waters depths from 1150 to 4045 m in the northeast atlantic demonstrate the influence of dissolution superimposed upon initial shell weight variability records of shell weight unaffected by dissolution may be used as a reference for interpreting deeper records in terms of preservation history combining records of planktonic shell weight and benthic 13c from shallow and deep sites suggests that maximum oceanic stratification and incursion of southern sourced deep waters in the north atlantic occurred at about 18 20 ka defining the glacial mode of atlantic circulation reduced stratification and enhanced preservation in deeper waters reflect conditions during heinrich event 1 a state similar to the modern mode of atlantic circulation was attained by about 10 ka

core top calibration of mg ca in tropical foraminifera refining paleotemperature estimation 1 optimal use of mg ca as a paleotemperature proxy requires establishing calibrations for different species of foraminifera and quantifying the influence of dissolution to achieve this goal we have measured mg ca and 18o in a series of tropical and subtropical core tops including four depth transects the ceara rise the sierra leone rise and the rio grande plateau in the atlantic and the ontong java plateau in the pacific focusing on spinose mixed layer dwelling species globigerinoides ruber and globigerinoides sacculifer and nonspinose thermocline dwelling neogloboquadrina dutertrei shell mg ca in g sacculifer is 5 15 lower than in g ruber while n dutertrei mg ca is 49 55 lower than in g ruber this statistically significant offset has allowed us to establish different calibrations for each species multilinear regression analysis was used to develop calibration equations that include a correction term for the dissolution effect on mg ca in foraminiferal calcite presented in this paper are two sets of calibrations one set using core depth as a dissolution correction and another using co32 as a dissolution parameter the calibrations suggest that g ruber is the most accurate recorder of surface temperature while g sacculifer records temperatures below the surface at 20 30 m the depth habitat of n dutertrei is more uncertain owing to the wide range in habitat depths depending on hydrographic conditions but on average mg ca and 18o data suggest it is at 50 m of the three species n dutertrei is the most sensitive to dissolution up to 23 decrease in shell mg ca per km while g sacculifer is the most resistant

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

crystallinity of foraminifera shells a proxy to reconstruct past bottom water co3 changes 1 the reconstruction of past changes in bottom water co3 is central to evaluating competing oceanic scenarios that deal with long term variations in atmospheric pco2 in search of a quantitative bottom water co3 proxy we analyzed the variations of calcite crystallinity of planktonic foraminifera globigerinoides ruber shells picked from core top samples along three depth transects ontong java plateau and the northeast margin of irian jaya in the western equatorial pacific and the sierra leone rise in the eastern tropical atlantic the strong empirical relationship between calcite crystallinity inferred from the full width at half maximum fwhm of calcite 104 x ray diffraction peak and bottom water saturation relative to calcite co3 shows that foraminifera calcite crystallinity could be a promising proxy for the reconstruction of upper pleistocene bottom water carbonate ion concentration

glacial deep water carbonate chemistry inferred from foraminiferal mg ca a case study from the western tropical atlantic we explore using changes in planktonic foraminiferal mg ca with water depth in a single region to infer relative changes in deep water carbonate chemistry the mg ca ratio in foraminiferal calcite is quantitatively lowered by dissolution we exploit this dissolution effect to generate a profile of carbonate ion concentration co32 for the deep waters of the tropical atlantic during the last glacial maximum we generated mg ca data for three species g ruber g sacculifer and n dutertrei from three cores located along a depth transect 2 8 to 4 0 km on the ceara rise in the western equatorial atlantic we attribute lower mg ca in glacial intervals from the shallow core to changes in sea surface temperature sst the even lower glacial mg ca values in the deeper cores are attributed to dissolution and are used to reconstruct a paleo co32 profile our down core mg ca data for g ruber and g sacculifer confirm that these species are more resistant to mg loss due to dissolution than n dutertrei the greater susceptibility of n dutertrei s mg content to dissolution limits the utility of this species in thermocline temperature reconstructions to cores above the lysocline but significant to this study makes n dutertrei useful in quantifying changes in deep water co32 our paleo co32 reconstruction based on n dutertrei suggests the last glacial maximum co32 gradient in the atlantic was much steeper than today implying that the boundary between deepwater masses in the atlantic was shallower during the last glacial maximum our results suggest comparison of mg ca from multiple cores from one region could similarly provide constraints on changes in carbonate chemistry in other basins and other time periods

comparison of water mass changes in the deep tropical atlantic derived from cd ca and carbon isotope records implications for changing ba composition of deep atlantic water masses eastern tropical atlantic benthic foraminiferal ba ca and cd ca data from core v30 49 3093 m reveal large inferred changes in nutrient concentrations of deep atlantic waters during the last 250 kyr relative changes in north atlantic deep water contribution to this site are estimated by scaling the v30 49 cd ca record to values of modern end member water masses these estimates agree well with the relative structure and timing of circulation changes in the eastern tropical atlantic reconstructed from a 13c record based mixing model raymo et al 1997 temporal differences between v30 49 cd ca and ba ca records suggest that the ba ca record reflects changes in circulation with an additional increase in the ba composition of deep atlantic water masses during glacial episodes possibly resulting from increased productivity similarity between the 13c and ba ca records suggests that carbon isotopes in the deep glacial atlantic also reflect productivity increases

the southern ocean at the last glacial maximum a strong sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide analysis of satellite ocean color sea surface temperature and sea ice cover data reveals consistent patterns between biological production iron availability and physical forcings in the southern ocean the consistency of these patterns in conjunction with information on physical conditions during the last glacial maximum lgm enables estimates of export production at the lgm the lgm southern ocean experienced increased wind speeds colder sea surface and atmospheric temperatures increased deposition of atmospheric dust and a greatly expanded winter sea ice cover these variations had strong effects on southern ocean ecology and on air sea fluxes of co2 the seasonal ice zone siz was much larger at the lgm 30 million km2 than at present 19 million km2 the antarctic polar front pf likely marked the northern boundary of this expanded siz throughout the southern ocean as it does today in the drake passage region a large northward shift in the position of the pf during glacial times is unlikely due to topographic constraints north of the pf the increased flux of aeolian dust during glacial times altered phytoplankton species composition and increased export production and as a result this region was a stronger sink for atmospheric co2 than in the modern ocean south of the pf interactions between the biota and sea ice strongly influence air sea gas exchange over seasonal timescales the combined influence of melting sea ice and increased aeolian dust flux with its associated iron increased both primary and export production by phytoplankton over daily monthly timescales during austral spring summer resulting in a strong flux of co2 into the ocean heavy ice cover would have minimized air sea gas exchange over much of the rest of the year thus an increased net flux of co2 into the ocean is likely during glacial times even in areas where annual primary production declined we estimate that export production in the southern ocean as a whole was increased by 2 9 3 6 gt c yr 1 at the lgm relative to the modern era altered seasonal sea ice dynamics would further increase the net flux of co2 into the ocean thus the southern ocean was a strong sink for atmospheric co2 and contributed substantially to the lowering of atmospheric co2 levels during the last ice age

determination of intratest variability of trace elements in foraminifera by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry 1 we have developed a technique to determine the variability of trace elements including li b na mg mn cu zn sr and ba within foraminifera tests using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms this technique has a high spatial resolution width 40 80 m depth 0 5 m is reproducible 8 external reproducibility and has low detection limits generally 0 05 g g 1 we demonstrate that normalization of data to a calcite standard usually gives results that are more consistent with solution icp ms data than normalization to nist 612 rastering into the wall of the final chamber of globigerinoides sacculifer shows that the outermost 1 5 m of the test is enriched in trace elements including mn relative to the interior indicating the presence of a contaminant surface phase pustule calcite close to the aperture of globorotalia tumida has different sr ca and ba ca compared to other parts of the test sr ca and ba ca partition coefficients suggest that the pustule calcite is diagenetic and or formed in a more open system multiple analyses of orbulina universa tests recovered from a latitudinal transect in the north atlantic give a relationship between mg ca and sea surface temperature similar to that reported elsewhere in the literature these initial data demonstrate the validity of this technique and show that it is potentially an extremely powerful microanalytical tool for palaeoceanographic and palaeontological studies

sea surface temperature anomalies in the oceans at the lgm estimated from the alkenone u37k index comparison with gcms 1 u k 37 sea surface temperature sst estimates for the last glacial maximum lgm are discussed and compared to coupled general circulation model gcm results we conclude that u k 37 estimates and most numerical models agree in the magnitude of the large scale sst cooling features of the glacial ocean there was a larger cooling in the northern than in the southern hemisphere the eastern boundary currents and equatorial regions were also colder there is a consensus between models and alkenone data for a tropical cooling of about 2 c which is in disagreement with both a smaller cooling as suggested by the climap project reconstruction or a more pronounced cooling as suggested from coral proxy records the comprehensive hadcm3 simulation examined reproduces a puzzling feature of the u k 37 sst reconstruction i e the warming of the glacial north atlantic which needs further investigation using numerical modelling and proxy data reconstruction

calibration of mg ca thermometry in planktonic foraminifera from a sediment trap time series 1 paired mg ca and 18o measurements on planktonic foraminiferal species g ruber white g ruber pink g sacculifer g conglobatus g aequilateralis o universa n dutertrei p obliquiloculata g inflata g truncatulinoides g hirsuta and g crassaformis from a 6 year sediment trap time series in the sargasso sea were used to define the sensitivity of foraminiferal mg ca to calcification temperature habitat depths and calcification temperatures were estimated from comparison of 18o of foraminifera with equilibrium calcite based on historical temperature and salinity data when considered together mg ca mmol mol of all species except two show a significant r 0 93 relationship with temperature t c of the form mg ca 0 38 0 02 exp 0 090 0 003 t equivalent to a 9 0 0 3 change in mg ca for a 1 c change in temperature small differences exist in calibrations between species and between different size fractions of the same species o universa and g aequilateralis have higher mg ca than other species and in general data can be best described with the same temperature sensitivity for all species and pre exponential constants in the sequence o universa g aequilateralis g bulloides g ruber g sacculifer other species this approach gives an accuracy of 1 2 c in the estimation of calcification temperature the 9 sensitivity to temperature is similar to published studies from culture and core top calibrations but differences exist from some literature values of pre exponential constants different cleaning methodologies and artefacts of core top dissolution are probably implicated and perhaps environmental factors yet understood planktonic foraminiferal mg ca temperature estimates can be used for reconstructing surface temperatures and mixed and thermocline temperatures using g ruber pink g ruber white g sacculifer n dutertrei p obliquiloculata etc the existence of a single mg thermometry equation is valuable for extinct species although use of species specific equations will where statistically significant provide more accurate evaluation of mg ca paleotemperature

north atlantic thermohaline circulation during the past 20 000 years linked to high latitude surface temperature during a surface cooling event 10 000 to 12 000 years ago higher cd ca and lower 13c 12c ratios are observed in benthic foraminifera shells from rapidly accumulating western north atlantic sediments data from sediment cores show that marked nutrient depletion of intermediate waters occurs in association with reduced glacial north atlantic deep water flux it is proposed that cold high latitude sea surface temperatures enhance intermediate water formation at the expense of deep water formation

changes in the distribution of δ13c of deep water σco2 between the last glaciation and the holocene carbon isotopic measurements on the benthic foraminiferal genus cibicidoides document that mean deep ocean 13c values were 0 46 lower during the last glacial maximum than during the late holocene the geographic distribution of 13c was altered by changes in the production rate of nutrient depleted deep water in the north atlantic during the late holocene north atlantic deep water with high 13c values and low nutrient values can be found throughout the atlantic ocean and its effects can be traced into the southern ocean where it mixes with recirculated pacific deep water during the glaciation decreased production of north atlantic deep water allowed southern ocean deep water to penetrate farther into the north atlantic and across low latitude fracture zones into the eastern atlantic mean southern ocean 13c values during the glaciation are lower than both north atlantic and pacific 13c values suggesting that production of nutrient depleted water occurred in both oceans during the glaciation enriched 13c values in shallow cores within the atlantic ocean indicate the existence of a nutrient depleted water mass above 2000 m in this ocean

santa ana winds of southern california their climatology extremes and behavior spanning six and a half decades santa ana winds saws are an integral feature of the regional climate of southern california northern baja california region but their climate scale behavior is poorly understood in the present work we identify saws in mesoscale dynamical downscaling of a global reanalysis from 1948 to 2012 model winds are validated with anemometer observations saws exhibit an organized pattern with strongest easterly winds on westward facing downwind slopes and muted magnitudes at sea and over desert lowlands we construct hourly local and regional saw indices and analyze elements of their behavior on daily annual and multidecadal timescales saws occurrences peak in winter but some of the strongest winds have occurred in fall finally we observe that saw intensity is influenced by prominent large scale low frequency modes of climate variability rooted in the tropical and north pacific ocean atmosphere system

dissolution effects on foraminiferal mg ca records of sea surface temperature in the western equatorial pacific 1 mg sea surface temperature sst records from different planktonic foraminifera g sacculifer and g ruber size fractions and core depths 1600 and 2600 m suggest similar amplitudes of cyclic change over the last 425 kyr however there are significant differences in the detail recorded by different size fractions and between cores in close geographic proximity these differences may be induced by dissolution but artifacts resulting from divergent cleaning protocols and a dependency of the magnitude of these on preservation status cannot be ruled out these and issues such as reproducibility require greater scrutiny for the true significance and credibility of down core mg sst variability to be established

foraminiferal magnesium in globeriginoides sacculifer as a paleotemperature proxy foraminiferal magnesium shows increasing promise as a paleothermometer but the accuracy and precision are limited by biases introduced by partial dissolution salinity variations mg rich gametogenic calcite and contaminant phases we improved cleaning methods and reduced errors introduced by partial dissolution by sampling from well preserved cores in the equatorial atlantic and the caribbean sea with different dissolution histories all cores reveal a synchronous 25 increase in mg ca from the stage 2 3 boundary to the holocene core top indicating that dissolution is not a controlling factor modern temperatures estimated from core top mg ca are 24 5 25 0 c equal to mean annual water temperatures at 50 100 m we estimate that sea surface temperature increased by 2 6 c 1 3 from the last glacial maximum to the holocene holocene values were comparable to those during isotope stage 5e our data indicate that biases from contaminant phases and partial dissolution can be reduced this paleothermometer holds promise if uncertainties introduced by salinity variations and gametogenic calcite can be constrained

distribution of carbonate ion in the deep ocean support for a post little ice age change in southern ocean ventilation 1 the distribution of co3 ion concentrations in the deep sea proves difficult to reconcile with a steady state thermohaline circulation the problem is that assuming steady state we cannot come up with any satisfactory explanation for the 28 mol kg deficiency of co3 ion concentration in deep pacific and indian ocean water relative to that for the source water mix however following broecker et al 1999 if we assume that during the little ice age deep water formation in the southern ocean was not only much stronger than now but also had lower po4 and co3 concentrations then this anomaly can be explained

can rogue waves be predicted using characteristic wave parameters rogue waves are ocean surface waves larger than the surrounding sea that can pose a danger to ships and offshore structures they are often deemed unpredictable without complex measurement of the wave field and computationally intensive calculation which is infeasible in most applications consequently there a need for fast predictors here we collate quality control and analyse the largest dataset of single point field measurements from surface following wave buoys to search for predictors of rogue wave occurrence we find that analysis of the sea state parameters in bulk yields no predictors as the subset of seas containing rogue waves sits within the set of seas without however spectral bandwidth parameters of rogue seas display different probability distributions to normal seas but these parameters are rarely provided in wave forecasts when location is accounted for trends can be identified in the occurrence of rogue waves as a function of the average seas state characteristics at that location these trends follow a power law relationship with the characteristic sea state parameters mean significant wave height and mean zero up crossing wave period we find that frequency of occurrence of rogue waves and their generating mechanism is not spatially uniform and each location is likely to have its own unique sensitivities which increase in the coastal seas we conclude that forecastable predictors of rogue wave occurrence will need to be location specific and reflective of their generation mechanism therefore given location and a sufficiently long historical record of sea state characteristics the likelihood of occurrence can be obtained for mariners and offshore operators

foraminiferal faunal estimates of paleotemperature circumventing the no analog problem yields cool ice age tropics the sensitivity of the tropics to climate change particularly the amplitude of glacial to interglacial changes in sea surface temperature sst is one of the great controversies in paleoclimatology here we reassess faunal estimates of ice age ssts focusing on the problem of no analog planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the equatorial oceans that confounds both classical transfer function and modern analog methods a new calibration strategy developed here which uses past variability of species to define robust faunal assemblages solves the no analog problem and reveals ice age cooling of 5 o to 6oc in the equatorial current systems of the atlantic and eastern pacific oceans classical transfer functions underestimated temperature changes in some areas of the tropical oceans because core top assemblages misrepresented the ice age faunal assemblages our finding is consistent with some geochemical estimates and model predictions of greater ice age cooling in the tropics than was inferred by climate long range investigation mapping and prediction climap 1981 and thus may help to resolve a long standing controversy our new foraminiferal transfer function suggests that such cooling was limited to the equatorial current systems however and supports climap s inference of stability of the subtropical gyre centers

local and synoptic mechanisms causing southern california s santa ana winds the atmospheric conditions that lead to strong offshore surface winds in southern california commonly referred to as santa ana winds are investigated using the north american regional reanalysis and a 12 year 6 km resolution regional climate simulation of southern california we first construct an index to characterize santa ana events based on offshore wind strength this index is then used to identify the average synoptic conditions associated with santa ana events a high pressure anomaly over the great basin this pressure anomaly causes offshore geostrophic winds roughly perpendicular to the region s mountain ranges which in turn cause surface flow as the offshore momentum is transferred to the surface we find however that there are large variations in the synoptic conditions during santa ana conditions and that there are many days with strong offshore flow and weak synoptic forcing this is due to local thermodynamic forcing that also causes strong offshore surface flow a large temperature gradient between the cold desert surface and the warm ocean air at the same altitude creates an offshore pressure gradient at that altitude in turn causing katabatic like offshore flow in a thin layer near the surface we quantify the contribution of synoptic and local thermodynamic mechanisms using a bivariate linear regression model and find that unless synoptic conditions force strongly onshore winds the local thermodynamic forcing is the primary control on santa ana variability