Climate Impact of Late Quaternary Equatorial Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Variations

Magnesium/calcium data from planktonic foraminifera in equatorial Pacific sediment cores demonstrate that tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were 2.8° ± 0.7°C colder than the present at the last glacial maximum. Glacial-interglacial temperature differences as great as 5°C are observed...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2000-09, Vol.289 (5485), p.1719-1724
Main Authors: Lea, David W., Pak, Dorothy K., Spero, Howard J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calibration
Climate
Climate change
Climate models
Cooling
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Environmental aspects
Exact sciences and technology
Geological time
Inferences
Magnesium
Magnesium (Metal)
Marine
Marine and continental quaternary
Marine isotope stages
Mathematics
Oceans
Oxygen isotopes
Paleoceanography
Paleoclimatology
Salinity
Surficial geology
Temperature
Water
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Magnesium/calcium data from planktonic foraminifera in equatorial Pacific sediment cores demonstrate that tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were 2.8° ± 0.7°C colder than the present at the last glacial maximum. Glacial-interglacial temperature differences as great as 5°C are observed over the last 450 thousand years. Changes in SST coincide with changes in Antarctic air temperature and precede changes in continental ice volume by about 3 thousand years, suggesting that tropical cooling played a major role in driving ice-age climate. Comparison of SST estimates from eastern and western sites indicates that the equatorial Pacific zonal SST gradient was similar or somewhat larger during glacial episodes. Extraction of a salinity proxy from the magnesium/calcium and oxygen isotope data indicates that transport of water vapor into the western Pacific was enhanced during glacial episodes.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.289.5485.1719