A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa
The southern Cape coastal region is important for understanding both the behavioural history of modern humans, and regional and global climate dynamics, because it boasts a long archaeological record and occupies a key geographical location near the intersection of two major oceans. The western boun...
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ftunottingham:oai:eprints.nottingham.ac.uk:44312 2023-09-05T13:12:36+02:00 A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa Loftus, Emma Sealy, J. Leng, Melanie J. Lee-Thorp, J.A. 2017-09-01 http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44312/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379116306242 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 unknown Elsevier Loftus, Emma and Sealy, J. and Leng, Melanie J. and Lee-Thorp, J.A. (2017) A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 171 . pp. 73-84. ISSN 1873-457X doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunottingham https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 2023-08-14T17:40:58Z The southern Cape coastal region is important for understanding both the behavioural history of modern humans, and regional and global climate dynamics, because it boasts a long archaeological record and occupies a key geographical location near the intersection of two major oceans. The western boundary Agulhas Current, implicated in global heat exchange dynamics, is an important modulator of southern African climates and yet we understand its past behaviour only broadly as the Current itself scours the coastal shelf and marine sediment core records necessarily provide little detail. Numerous archaeological sites from both the late Pleistocene and Holocene provide the opportunity for reconstruction of near-shore seasonal SST records, which respond both to localized wind-driven upwellings and Agulhas temperature shifts, corresponding in turn with terrestrial precipitation trends in the near-coastal and summer rainfall regions. Here we present a record of seasonal SSTs extending over MIS5, MIS4, and the Holocene, from serial δ18O measurements of a single gastropod species, Turbo sarmaticus. The results show that mean SST shifts accord well with global SST trends, although they are larger than those recorded in the Agulhas Current from coarser-scale marine sediment records. Comparison with a record of Antarctic sea-ice suggests that annual SST amplitude responds to Antarctic sea-ice extent, reflecting the positioning of the regional wind systems that drive upwelling dynamics along the coast. Thus, near-shore SST seasonality reflects the relative dominance of the westerly and easterly wind systems. These data provide a new climate archive for an important but understudied climate system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice The University of Nottingham: Nottingham ePrints Antarctic Quaternary Science Reviews 171 73 84 |
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The University of Nottingham: Nottingham ePrints |
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ftunottingham |
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description |
The southern Cape coastal region is important for understanding both the behavioural history of modern humans, and regional and global climate dynamics, because it boasts a long archaeological record and occupies a key geographical location near the intersection of two major oceans. The western boundary Agulhas Current, implicated in global heat exchange dynamics, is an important modulator of southern African climates and yet we understand its past behaviour only broadly as the Current itself scours the coastal shelf and marine sediment core records necessarily provide little detail. Numerous archaeological sites from both the late Pleistocene and Holocene provide the opportunity for reconstruction of near-shore seasonal SST records, which respond both to localized wind-driven upwellings and Agulhas temperature shifts, corresponding in turn with terrestrial precipitation trends in the near-coastal and summer rainfall regions. Here we present a record of seasonal SSTs extending over MIS5, MIS4, and the Holocene, from serial δ18O measurements of a single gastropod species, Turbo sarmaticus. The results show that mean SST shifts accord well with global SST trends, although they are larger than those recorded in the Agulhas Current from coarser-scale marine sediment records. Comparison with a record of Antarctic sea-ice suggests that annual SST amplitude responds to Antarctic sea-ice extent, reflecting the positioning of the regional wind systems that drive upwelling dynamics along the coast. Thus, near-shore SST seasonality reflects the relative dominance of the westerly and easterly wind systems. These data provide a new climate archive for an important but understudied climate system. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Loftus, Emma Sealy, J. Leng, Melanie J. Lee-Thorp, J.A. |
spellingShingle |
Loftus, Emma Sealy, J. Leng, Melanie J. Lee-Thorp, J.A. A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
author_facet |
Loftus, Emma Sealy, J. Leng, Melanie J. Lee-Thorp, J.A. |
author_sort |
Loftus, Emma |
title |
A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
title_short |
A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
title_full |
A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
title_fullStr |
A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
title_full_unstemmed |
A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa |
title_sort |
late quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern africa |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44312/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379116306242 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice |
op_relation |
Loftus, Emma and Sealy, J. and Leng, Melanie J. and Lee-Thorp, J.A. (2017) A late Quaternary record of seasonal sea surface temperatures off southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 171 . pp. 73-84. ISSN 1873-457X doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.003 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
171 |
container_start_page |
73 |
op_container_end_page |
84 |
_version_ |
1776200918567485440 |