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Abstract The minor and trace element compositions of biogenic carbonates such as foraminifera are important tools in paleoceanography research. However, most studies have focused primarily on samples with element to calcium (El/Ca) ratios higher than the El/Ca range often found in benthic foraminifera. Here, we systematically assess the precision and accuracy of foraminifera elemental analysis across a wide range of El/Ca especially at relatively low ratios, using a method on a Thermo Scientific iCAP Qc quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP‐MS). We focus on two benthic foraminifera species,Hoeglundina elegansandCibicidoides pachyderma, and prepared a suite of solution standards based on their typical El/Ca ranges to correct for signal drift and matrix effects during ICP‐MS analysis and to determine analytical precision. We observe comparable precisions with published studies at high El/Ca, and higher relative standard deviations for each element at lower El/Ca, as expected from counting statistics. The overall long‐term analytical precision (2σ) of theH. elegans‐like consistency standard solutions was 6.5%, 4.6%, 5.0%, for Li/Ca, Mg/Ca, Mg/Li, and 6.4%, 10.0%, 4.2% for B/Ca, Cd/Ca, Sr/Ca. The precision forH. elegans‐like Mg/Li is equivalent to a temperature uncertainty of 0.5–1.1°C. Measurement precisions were also assessed based on three international standards (one solution and two powder standards) and replicate measurements ofH. elegansandC. pachydermasamples. We provide file templates and program scripts that can be used to design calibration and consistency standards, prepare run sequences, and convert the raw ICP‐MS data into molar ratios. 

Abstract Variations in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) redistribute heat and nutrients, causing pronounced anomalies of temperature and nutrient concentrations in the subsurface ocean. However, exactly how millennial‐scale deglacial AMOC variability influenced the subsurface is debated, and the role of other deglacial forcings of subsurface temperature change is unclear. Here, we present a new deglacial temperature reconstruction, which, with published records, helps assess competing hypotheses for deglacial warming in the upper tropical North Atlantic. Our record provides new evidence of regional subsurface warming in the western tropical North Atlantic within the core of modern Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), an early deglacial interval of iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic. Our results are consistent with model simulations that suggest subsurface heat accumulates in the northern high‐latitude convection regions and along the upper AMOC return path when the AMOC weakens, and with warming due to rising greenhouse gases. Warming of AAIW may have also contributed to warming in the tropics at modern AAIW depths during late HS1. Nutrient andreconstructions from the same site suggest a link between AMOC intensity and the northward extent of AAIW in the northern tropics across the deglaciation and on millennial time scales. However, the timing of the initial deglacial increase in AAIW to the northern tropics is ambiguous. Deglacial trends and variability ofin the upper North Atlantic have likely biased temperature reconstructions based on the elemental composition of calcitic benthic foraminifera. 

Abstract Reconstructing the strength and depth boundary of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the glacial ocean advances our understanding of how OMZs respond to climate changes. While many efforts have inferred better oxygenation of the glacial Arabian Sea OMZ from qualitative indices, oxygenation and vertical extent of the glacial OMZ is not well quantified. Here we present glacial‐Holocene oxygen reconstructions in a depth transect of Arabian Sea cores ranging from 600 to 3,650 m water depths. We estimate glacial oxygen concentrations using benthic foraminiferal surface porosity and benthic carbon isotope gradient reconstructions. Compared to the modern Arabian Sea, glacial oxygen concentrations were approximately 10–15 μmol/kg higher in the shallow OMZ (<1,000 m), and 5–80 μmol/kg lower at greater depths (1,500–3,650 m). Our results suggest that the OMZ in the glacial Arabian Sea was slightly better oxygenated but remained in the upper 1,000 m. We propose that the small increase in oxygenation of the Arabian Sea OMZ during the last glacial period was due to weaker upper ocean stratification induced by stronger winter monsoon winds coupled with an increase in oxygen solubility due to lower temperatures, counteracting the effects of more oxygen consumption resulting from higher primary productivity. Large‐scale changes in ocean circulation may have also contributed to better ventilation of the glacial Arabian Sea OMZ. 

IcpCarb is a Matlab package that processes raw counts data from the iCAP (or other ICP instruments) and converts them to element ratios based on the determined standard curves and matrix curves.  License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) References: Please cite the following references when using the IcpCarb package: Guo, W. (2024) IcpCarb: A Matlab package for processing element data from ICP analysis, http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13929590. Lu, W., Guo, W., Oppo, D. (2024) Assessing the precision and accuracy of foraminifera elemental analysis at low ratios, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. Funding: Development of this package was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation [NSF-OCE-1811305] and the Investment in Science Fund at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

IcpCarb is a Matlab package that processes raw counts data from the iCAP (or other ICP instruments) and converts them to element ratios based on the determined standard curves and matrix curves.  License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) References: Please cite the following references when using the IcpCarb package: Guo, W. (2024) IcpCarb: A Matlab package for processing element data from ICP analysis, Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13929590 Lu, W., Guo, W., Oppo, D. W. (2024) Assessing the precision and accuracy of foraminifera elemental analysis at low ratios, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 25, e2024GC011560. https:// doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011560 Funding: Development of this package was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation [NSF-OCE-1811305] and the Investment in Science Fund at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

Instrumental observations of subsurface ocean warming imply that ocean heat uptake has slowed 20th-century surface warming. We present high-resolution records from subpolar North Atlantic sediments that are consistent with instrumental observations of surface and deep warming/freshening and in addition reconstruct the surface-deep relation of the last 1200 years. Sites from ~1300 meters and deeper suggest an ~0.5 degrees celsius cooling across the Medieval Climate Anomaly to Little Ice Age transition that began ~1350 ± 50 common era (CE), whereas surface records suggest asynchronous cooling onset spanning ~600 years. These data suggest that ocean circulation integrates surface variability that is transmitted rapidly to depth by the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation, implying that the ocean moderated Earth’s surface temperature throughout the last millennium as it does today. 

This archived Paleoclimatology Study is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), under the World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology. The associated NCEI study type is Paleoceanography. The data include parameters of paleocean (oxygen isotopes) with a geographic location of North Atlantic Ocean. The time period coverage is from 22423 to 563 in calendar years before present (BP). See metadata information for parameter and study location details. Please cite this study when using the data. 

Data and R script repository for the manuscript to reproduce figs 5 and 6; Deglacial temperature and carbonate saturation state variability in the tropical Atlantic at Antarctic Intermediate Water Depths" (Oppo et al., 2023) 

This archived Paleoclimatology Study is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), under the World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology. The associated NCEI study type is Paleoceanography. The data include parameters of paleoceanography with a geographic location of Arabian Sea. The time period coverage is from 29600 to 0 in calendar years before present (BP). See metadata information for parameter and study location details. Please cite this study when using the data. 

This archived Paleoclimatology Study is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), under the World Data Service (WDS) for Paleoclimatology. The associated NCEI study type is Paleoceanography. The data include parameters of paleocean (oxygen isotopes) with a geographic location of North Atlantic Ocean. The time period coverage is from 2179 to -63 in calendar years before present (BP). See metadata information for parameter and study location details. Please cite this study when using the data.