Northern and southern hemisphere controls on seasonal sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean during the last deglaciation

Type Article
Date 2013-12
Language English
Author(s) Wang Yiming V.1, 2, Leduc Guillaume1, Regenberg Marcus1, Andersen Nils2, Larsen Thomas2, 3, Blanz Thomas1, Schneider Ralph R.1, 2
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Kiel, Inst Geosci, D-24118 Kiel, Germany.
2 : Univ Kiel, Leibniz Lab Radiometr Dating & Isotope Res, D-24118 Kiel, Germany.
3 : Spanish Res Council CSIC, Biogeodynam & Biodivers Grp, Ctr Adv Studies Blanes CEAB, Catalonia, Spain.
Source Paleoceanography (0883-8305) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2013-12 , Vol. 28 , N. 4 , P. 619-632
DOI 10.1002/palo.20053
WOS© Times Cited 32
Keyword(s) Sea surface temperature, Tropical Indian Ocean, Last Deglacial
Abstract Different proxies for sea surface temperature (SST) often exhibit divergent trends for deglacial warming in tropical regions, hampering our understanding of the phase relationship between tropical SSTs and continental ice volume at glacial terminations. To reconcile divergent SST trends, we report reconstructions of two commonly used paleothermometers (the foraminifera G. ruber Mg/Ca and the alkenone unsaturation index) from a marine sediment core collected in the southwestern tropical Indian Ocean encompassing the last 37,000 years. Our results show that SSTs derived from the alkenone unsaturation index (U-37(K)) are consistently warmer than those derived from Mg/Ca by similar to 2-3 degrees C except for the Heinrich Event 1. In addition, the initial timing for the deglacial warming of alkenone SST started at similar to 15.6 ka, which lags behind that of Mg/Ca temperatures by 2.5 kyr. We argue that the discrepancy between the two SST proxies reflects seasonal differences between summer and winter rather than postdepositional processes or sedimentary biases. The U-37(K) SST record clearly mimics the deglacial SST trend recorded in the North Atlantic region for the earlier part of the termination, indicating that the early deglacial warming trend attributed to local summer temperatures was likely mediated by changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at the onset of the deglaciation. In contrast, the glacial to interglacial SST pattern recorded by G. ruber Mg/Ca probably reflects cold season SSTs. This indicates that the cold season SSTs was likely mediated by climate changes in the southern hemisphere, as it closely tracks the Antarctic timing of deglaciation. Therefore, our study reveals that the tropical southwestern Indian Ocean seasonal SST was closely linked to climate changes occurring in both hemispheres. The austral summer and winter recorded by each proxy is further supported with seasonal SST trends modeled by Atmosphere-ocean General Circulation Models for our core site. Our interpretation that the alkenone and Mg/Ca SSTs are seasonally biased may also explain similar proxy mismatches observed in other tropical regions at the onset of the last termination.
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Wang Yiming V., Leduc Guillaume, Regenberg Marcus, Andersen Nils, Larsen Thomas, Blanz Thomas, Schneider Ralph R. (2013). Northern and southern hemisphere controls on seasonal sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean during the last deglaciation. Paleoceanography, 28(4), 619-632. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1002/palo.20053 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00291/40174/