Key features of late Neogene climate remain uncertain due to conflicting records derived from different sea surface temperature (SST) proxies. To understand scenarios in which proxy‐derived temperature estimates can be used interchangeably or are instead measuring different aspects of the same system, it is necessary to explore both the consistencies and differences between specific paleothermometers. Here, we report orbital‐scale climate records from ODP Site 846 in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) for the interval from ~5–6 Ma using alkenone and archaeal lipid paleothermometers. Results from both proxies are similar in their secular trends and magnitude of long‐term temperature change, and spectral analysis demonstrates that the records are coherent and in‐phase in both the obliquity and precession bands. However, we find that the temperatures reconstructed by TEX86are consistently offset toward colder values by ~2 °C relative to Uk′37‐derived temperatures in global calibrations, or by ~0.8 °C in Bayesian‐based calibrations. All combinations of calibrations also yield approximately twice the amplitude of orbital‐scale variation in TEX86relative to Uk′37‐derived temperature fluctuations. Both temperature proxies are negatively correlated with sedimentary alkenone concentrations, which we use as an indicator of increased export productivity. Removing this productivity contribution from TEX86results in an adjusted TEX86record with temperature sensitivity identical to Uk′37. In future applications, this signal may be decoupled using additional sedimentary indicators of paleoproductivity, which likely will be most important for upwelling zone environments. There remain other nonexplained factors that contribute to differences between TEX86and Uk′37that warrant additional investigation.
Alkenones are biomarkers produced solely by algae in the order Isochrysidales that have been used to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) since the 1980s. However, alkenone-based SST reconstructions in the northern high latitude oceans show significant bias towards warmer temperatures in core-tops, diverge from other SST proxies in down core records, and are often accompanied by anomalously high relative abundance of the C37tetra-unsaturated methyl alkenone (%C37:4). Elevated %C37:4is widely interpreted as an indicator of low sea surface salinity from polar water masses, but its biological source has thus far remained elusive. Here we identify a lineage of Isochrysidales that is responsible for elevated C37:4methyl alkenone in the northern high latitude oceans through next-generation sequencing and lab-culture experiments. This Isochrysidales lineage co-occurs widely with sea ice in marine environments and is distinct from other known marine alkenone-producers, namely
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10208581
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 608 (42.836°N, 23.087°), north of the Azores Front, and Ocean Drilling Program Site 982 (57.516°N, 15.866°), under the North Atlantic Current, in order to track Miocene (23.1–5.3 Ma) development of North Atlantic surface waters. Mean annual SSTs from TEX86and UK′37proxy estimates at both sites were 10–15 °C higher than modern through the Miocene Climatic Optimum (17–14.5 Ma). During the global cooling of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (~14.5–12.5 Ma), SSTs at midlatitude Site 608 cooled by ~6 °C, whereas high‐latitude Site 982 cooled by only ~2 °C, resulting in an ~4 Myr collapse of the SST gradient between the two sites. This regional pattern is inconsistent with an increased latitudinal surface temperature gradient, as generally associated with global cooling episodes linked to decreasing
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