Biomarker distributions and calculated sea surface temperatures from the North Pacific Ocean ...

• Main Authors: Méheust, Marie, Fahl, Kirsten, Stein, Ruediger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2013
• Subjects: Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions from Marine Sediments @ AWI AWI_Paleo; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas SPP1158; Antarctic; Arctic; Bering Sea; Pacific; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.804518; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.804518

In order to study the modern sea surface characteristics of the sub-polar North Pacific and the Bering Sea, i.e. sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice cover, surface sediments recovered during the RV Sonne Expedition 202 in 2009 were analysed. To distinguish between marine and terrestrial organic carbon, hydrogen index values, long chain n-alkanes and specific sterols have been determined. The results show that in the Bering Sea, especially on the sea slope, the organic carbon source is mainly caused by high primary production. In the North Pacific, on the other hand, the organic material originates predominantly from terrestrial higher plants, probably related to dust input from Asia. SST has been reconstructed using the modified alkenone unsaturation index. Calibration from Müller et al. (1998, doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(98)00097-0) offers the most reliable estimate of mean annual temperature in the central North Pacific but does not correlate with mean annual temperature throughout the study area. In the ... : Supplement to: Méheust, Marie; Fahl, Kirsten; Stein, Ruediger (2013): Variability in modern sea surface temperature, sea ice and terrigenous input in the sub-polar North Pacific and Bering Sea: Reconstruction from biomarker data. Organic Geochemistry, 57, 54-64 ...