Southwest Pacific Ocean response to a warmer world: Insights from Marine Isotope Stage 5e

Type Article
Date 2013-09
Language English
Author(s) Cortese G.1, Dunbar G. B.2, Carter L.2, Scott G.1, Bostock H.3, Bowen M.4, Crundwell M.1, Hayward B. W.5, Howard W.6, Martinez J.L.7, Moy A.8, 9, Neil H.3, Sabaa A.5, Sturm A.10
Affiliation(s) 1 : GNS Sci, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand.
2 : Victoria Univ Wellington, Antarctic Res Ctr, Wellington, New Zealand.
3 : Natl Inst Water & Atmospher Res NIWA, Wellington, New Zealand.
4 : Univ Auckland, Sch Environm, Auckland 1, New Zealand.
5 : Geomarine Res, Auckland, New Zealand.
6 : Australian Natl Univ, Res Sch Earth Sci, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
7 : Univ EAFIT, Dept Geol, Medellin, Colombia.
8 : Australian Antarctic Div, Dept Sustainabil Environm Water Populat & Communi, Kingston, Tas, Australia.
9 : Univ Tasmania, Antarctic Climate & Ecosyst Cooperat Res Ctr, Hobart, Tas, Australia.
10 : Alfred Wegener Inst Polar & Marine Res, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Source Paleoceanography (0883-8305) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2013-09 , Vol. 28 , N. 3 , P. 585-598
DOI 10.1002/palo.20052
WOS© Times Cited 34
Keyword(s) Interglacial climate, Foraminifera, South Pacific Ocean, Marine Isotope Stage 5, Sea surface temperature
Abstract Paleoceanographic archives derived from 17 marine sediment cores reconstruct the response of the Southwest Pacific Ocean to the peak interglacial, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (ca. 125ka). Paleo-Sea Surface Temperature (SST) estimates were obtained from the Random Forest modelan ensemble decision tree toolapplied to core-top planktonic foraminiferal faunas calibrated to modern SSTs. The reconstructed geographic pattern of the SST anomaly (maximum SST between 120 and 132ka minus mean modern SST) seems to indicate how MIS 5e conditions were generally warmer in the Southwest Pacific, especially in the western Tasman Sea where a strengthened East Australian Current (EAC) likely extended subtropical influence to ca. 45 degrees S off Tasmania. In contrast, the eastern Tasman Sea may have had a modest cooling except around 45 degrees S. The observed pattern resembles that developing under the present warming trend in the region. An increase in wind stress curl over the modern South Pacific is hypothesized to have spun-up the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre, with concurrent increase in subtropical flow in the western boundary currents that include the EAC. However, warmer temperatures along the Subtropical Front and Campbell Plateau to the south suggest that the relative influence of the boundary inflows to eastern New Zealand may have differed in MIS 5e, and these currents may have followed different paths compared to today.
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Cortese G., Dunbar G. B., Carter L., Scott G., Bostock H., Bowen M., Crundwell M., Hayward B. W., Howard W., Martinez J.L., Moy A., Neil H., Sabaa A., Sturm A. (2013). Southwest Pacific Ocean response to a warmer world: Insights from Marine Isotope Stage 5e. Paleoceanography, 28(3), 585-598. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1002/palo.20052 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00264/37492/