A 0.55-Ma paleotemperature record from the Subantarctic zone: Implications for Antarctic Circumpolar Current development

Estimates of summer sea surface temperatures (SSSTs) derived from planktic foraminiferal associations using the Modern Analog Technique and combined with isotopic analyses and determination of ice-rafted debris, mirror the Pleistocene evolution of the planktic Subantarctic surface waters in the Atla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Paleoceanography
Main Authors: Becquey, S, Gersonde, R
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Amer Geophysical Union 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00224/33501/31947.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2000PA000576
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00224/33501/
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Summary:Estimates of summer sea surface temperatures (SSSTs) derived from planktic foraminiferal associations using the Modern Analog Technique and combined with isotopic analyses and determination of ice-rafted debris, mirror the Pleistocene evolution of the planktic Subantarctic surface waters in the Atlantic Ocean. The SSSTs indicate that the isotherms that define the modern polar front zone and Subantarctic front, were located at more northerly latitudes (up to 7degrees) during most of the investigated period, which covers the past 550 kyr. Exceptions are during climatic optima in the early Holocene, at marine isotope stages (MIS) 5.5, 7.1, 7.5, 9.3, and presumably during MIS 11.3 when SSSTs exceeded modern values by 1degrees-5degreesC. The close similarity between the SSST and the Vostok temperature indicates strong regional temperature correlation. Both records show that MIS 9.3 was the warmest period during the last 420 kyr whereas SSSTs obtained for MIS 11.3 are overestimated due to strong carbonate dissolution. Spectral analysis corroborates that the initiation of warming in southern high latitudes heralds the start of deglaciation on the Northern Hemisphere.