Reconstruction of past sea-surface temperatures in the eastern south atlantic and the eastern south pacific across termination I based on the alkenone method.

Abstract

Detailed evaluation of the level of correspondence of the last two major cooling events (the Heinrich Event 1 and the Younger Dryas) superimposed on the last deglaciation between Northern and Southern Hemisphere climate variations is crucial to test existing feedback mechanisms invoked to initiate and transfer millennial-scale climate changes. For such approaches, it is essential to document paleoclimate variations at high-resolution because well-dated high-resolution marine climate records are still insufficient especially in the Southern Hemisphere. For this reason, core GeoB 1023-5 from the eastern South Atlantic, and cores GIK 17748-2 and GeoB 3302-1 from the eastern South Pacific were investigated to reconstruct past sea-surface temperature by determining temporal variations in the alkenone unsaturation ratios. This study focuses on the time interval of the last deglaciation phase, the so-called Termination I.