ALBERT

Description: An important tool for deep-sea temperature reconstruction is Mg/Ca paleothermometry applied to benthic foraminifera. Foraminifera of the genus Melonis appear to be promising candidates for temperature reconstructions due to their wide geographical and bathymetric distribution, and their infaunal habitat, which was suggested to reduce secondary effects from carbonate ion saturation (Δ[CO3 2−]). Here, we make substantial advances to previous calibration efforts and present new multi-lab Mg/Ca data for Melonis barleeanum and Melonis pompilioides from more than one hundred core top samples spanning in situ bottom temperatures from −1 to 16 °C, coupled with morphometric analyses of the foraminifer tests. Both species and their morphotypes seem to have a similar response of Mg/Ca to growth temperature. Compilation of new and previously published data reveals a linear dependence of temperature on Mg/Ca, with a best fit of Mg/Ca (mmol/mol) = 0.113 ± 0.005 ∗ BWT (°C) + 0.792 ± 0.036 (r2 = 0.81; n = 120; 1σ SD). Salinity, bottom water Δ[CO3 2−], and varying morphotypes have no apparent effect on the Mg/Ca-temperature relationship, but pore water Δ[CO3 2−] might have had an influence on some of the samples from the tropical Atlantic.

Description: The Arctic is responding more rapidly to global warming than most other areas on our planet. Northward-flowing Atlantic Water is the major means of heat advection toward the Arctic and strongly affects the sea ice distribution. Records of its natural variability are critical for the understanding of feedback mechanisms and the future of the Arctic climate system, but continuous historical records reach back only ~150 years. Here, we present a multidecadal-scale record of ocean temperature variations during the past 2000 years, derived from marine sediments off Western Svalbard (79°N). We find that early–21st-century temperatures of Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean are unprecedented over the past 2000 years and are presumably linked to the Arctic amplification of global warming.

Description: Mg to Ca ratios of the epibenthic foraminifer species Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi have been identified to be strongly controlled by temperature and thus to have great potential for reconstructing bottom water temperatures, especially from the lower end of the temperature range (0-6°C; Tisserand et al., 2013). In the Fram Strait, where main water mass exchanges between the Arctic Ocean and the world’s oceans occur, new temperature estimation tools independent from faunal assemblages can help to better understand the complex interaction of different water masses with possible implications to changes in the meridional overturning circulation and the heat flux to the Arctic Ocean. Furthermore, Mg/Ca temperatures can help unravelling the local impact (e.g., of brine-enriched waters) from general trends in bottom water circulation. In order to apply Mg/Ca-derived temperatures to paleo-records from the Fram Strait, a calibration relationship between modern Mg/Ca ratios to bottom water temperatures which fits the environmental conditions of the Fram Strait needs to be developed. We therefore studied Mg/Ca ratios of C. wuellerstorfi in a set of coretop samples from the Fram Strait and the Norwegian margin where bottom temperatures range between -0.5 and -1°C. For the calibration to modern temperatures, we used modern oceanographic data from both existing conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts and the World Ocean Data Base 2013 (Boyer et. al., 2013). Benthic Mg/Ca ratios are relatively high suggesting a preference of C. wuellerstorfi to incorporate Mg at temperatures below 0°C. Although no correlation has been found to existing temperature calibrations using higher temperature ranges (0-6°C), the data are in line with existing Mg/Ca data from C. wuellerstorfi from the Norwegian Sea and the Fram Strait (Martin et al., 2002; Elderfield et al., 2006).While correlation between Mg/Ca ratios to either temperature or salinity is difficult to constrain, better correlation exists to water depth. We therefore consider the carbonate ion effect as one possible explanation for the relatively high Mg/Ca ratios found in coretop samples from the Fram Strait and the Nordic Seas. Despite the difficulties to constrain a temperature calibration for this low temperature range down to -1°C, variations in benthic Mg/Ca ratios investigated in Holocene records from the eastern Fram Strait display trends similar to those found in other benthic proxy indicators. A short-lived decrease in benthic carbon isotopes and sortable silt mean grain size thus seems to correlate to lower Mg/Ca ratios during the 8.2 ka event. Also, a Late Holocene trend towards significantly higher benthic oxygen isotopes may be related to decreasing Mg/Ca ratios. Essential bibliography Boyer, T.P., Antonov, J.I., Baranova, O.K., Coleman, C., Garcia, H.E., Grodsky, A., Johnson, D.R., Locarnini, R.A., Mishonov, A.V., O'Brien, T.D., Paver, C.R., Reagan, J.R., Seidov, D., Smolyar, I.V., Zweng, M.M. 2013. World Ocean Database 2013. Sydney Levitus, Ed., Alexey Mishonov, Technical Ed., NOAA Atlas NESDIS 72. 209 pp. Elderfield, H., Yu, J., Anand, P., Kiefer, T., Nyland, B. 2006. Calibrations for benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca paleothermometry and the carbonate ion hypothesis. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 250, 633-649. Martin, P.A., Lea, D.W., Rosenthal, Y., Shackleton, N., Sarnthein, M., Papenfuss, T. 2002. Quaternary deep sea temperature histories derived from benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 198, 193-209. Tisserand, A.A., Dokken, T.M., Waelbroeck, C., Gherardi, J.-M., Scao, V., Fontanier, C., Jorissen, F. 2013. Refining benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca-temperature calibrations using core-tops from the western tropical Atlantic: Implication for paleotemperature estimation. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 14(4), 929-946.

Description: EGU2011-8738 At present, the Arctic is responding faster to global warming than most other areas on earth, as indicated by rising air temperatures, melting glaciers and ice sheets and a decline of the sea ice cover. As part of the meridional overturning circulation which connects all ocean basins and influences global climate, northward flowing Atlantic Water is the major means of heat and salt advection towards the Arctic where it strongly affects the sea ice distribution. Records of its natural variability are critical for the understanding of feedback mechanisms and the future of the Arctic climate system, but continuous historical records reach back only ca. 150 years. To reconstruct the history of temperature variations in the Fram Strait Branch of the Atlantic Current we analyzed a marine sediment core from the western Svalbard margin. In multidecadal resolution the Atlantic Water temperature record derived from planktic foraminifer associations and Mg/Ca measurements shows variations corresponding to the well-known climatic periods of the last millennium (Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age, Modern/Industrial Period). We find that prior to the beginning of atmospheric CO2 rise at ca. 1850 A.D. average summer temperatures in the uppermost Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean were in the range of 3-4.5°C. Within the 20th century, however, temperatures rose by ca. 2°C and eventually reached the modern level of ca. 6°C. Such values are unprecedented in the 1000 years before and are presumably linked to the Arctic Amplification of global warming. Taking into account the ongoing rise of global temperatures, further warming of inflowing Atlantic Water is expected to have a profound influence on sea ice and air temperatures in the Arctic.

Description: Li/Ca in calcitic benthic foraminiferal tests has been suggested to co-vary with both temperature and carbonate chemistry, but these two influences have been difficult to disentangle. We use several new downcore records of Li/Ca in Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and Uvigerina, paired with the carbonate proxy B/Ca, to further elucidate this behavior. We also combine the downcore measurements with a compilation of coretop Li/Ca data. Uvigerina B/Ca presumably records pore water saturation with respect to calcite (ΔCO32−), though downcore data show that it partially reflects bottom water ΔCO32− (inferred from C. wuellerstorfi B/Ca), with a relationship that is consistent with a previous global coretop calibration. Downcore Li/Ca is significantly correlated to B/Ca in both taxa, implying a positive relationship between Li/Ca and carbonate chemistry. This connection breaks down in the coretop compilation however, likely due to the confounding influence of temperature on Li/Ca. We attempt to isolate the temperature influence using a negative exponential equation previously derived from abiotic calcite precipitation experiments, and introduce a new quantity ΔLi/Ca, which is the observed departure from the temperature-based prediction. This transformation brings the downcore and coretop Li/Ca measurements into alignment, with up to 90% of the ΔLi/Ca variance explained by ΔCO32−. Finally, we perform preliminary tests of Li/Ca as a paleo-proxy for both ΔCO32− and temperature.