ALBERT

Description: North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) currently redistributes heat and salt between Earth's ocean basins, and plays a vital role in the ocean-atmosphere CO2 exchange. Despite its crucial role in today's climate system, vigorous debate remains as to when deep-water formation in the North Atlantic started. Here, we present datasets from carbonate-rich middle Eocene sediments from the Newfoundland Ridge, revealing a unique archive of paleoceanographic change from the progressively cooling climate of the middle Eocene. Well-defined lithologic alternations between calcareous ooze and clay-rich intervals occur at the ~41-kyr beat of axial obliquity. Hence, we identify obliquity as the driver of middle Eocene (43.5-46 Ma) Northern Component Water (NCW, the predecessor of modern NADW) variability. High-resolution benthic foraminiferal d18O and d13C suggest that obliquity minima correspond to cold, nutrient-depleted, western North Atlantic deep waters. We thus link stronger NCW formation with obliquity minima. In contrast, during obliquity maxima, Deep Western Boundary Currents were weaker and warmer, while abyssal nutrients were more abundant. These aspects reflect a more sluggish NCW formation. This obliquity-paced paleoceanographic regime is in excellent agreement with results from an Earth system model, in which obliquity minima configurations enhance NCW formation.

Description: Despite its importance in the global climate system, age-calibrated marine geologic records reflecting the evolution of glacial cycles through the Pleistocene are largely absent from the central Arctic Ocean. This is especially true for sediments older than 200 ka. Three sites cored during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Expedition 302, the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), provide a 27 m continuous sedimentary section from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean. Two key biostratigraphic datums and constraints from the magnetic inclination data are used to anchor the chronology of these sediments back to the base of the Cobb Mountain subchron (1215 ka). Beyond 1215 ka, two best fitting geomagnetic models are used to investigate the nature of cyclostratigraphic change. Within this chronology we show that bulk and mineral magnetic properties of the sediments vary on predicted Milankovitch frequencies. These cyclic variations record ''glacial'' and ''interglacial'' modes of sediment deposition on the Lomonosov Ridge as evident in studies of ice-rafted debris and stable isotopic and faunal assemblages for the last two glacial cycles and were used to tune the age model. Potential errors, which largely arise from uncertainties in the nature of downhole paleomagnetic variability, and the choice of a tuning target are handled by defining an error envelope that is based on the best fitting cyclostratigraphic and geomagnetic solutions.

Description: Here we publish simulated early-middle Eocene annual mean ocean temperature, salinity, density, mixed layer depth and current velocities (at the depth of ~1500 m) with different gateways configurations in the North Atlantic region. The details of original paleogeography, compiled by GETECH, are provided in Vahlenkamp et al. [2018, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.016]. The CO2 level is set to 840 ppm, while the obliquity to a minimum value. All data are averaged over the period of 100 years. All simulations were run with COSMOS (ECHAM5/MPIOM/OASIS3). The atmosphere component ECHAM5 was run in the resolution of T31/L19, while the ocean model MPIOM has a formal resolution of ~3.0°x1.8°. OASIS3 is a coupler between the atmosphere and ocean components. The gateway alterations with respect to original paleogeography include an opening of the Arctic and Tethyan Seaways, as well as changing the depth of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge to 50 m and 200 m [Vahlenkamp et al., 2018, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.06.031]. We publish also one experiment with higher, 1000 ppm CO2 level. In order to compare our simulated temperatures with the data, we have collected 30 Eocene temperature reconstructions from literature. We compared these reconstructions with the zonal surface air temperatures as well as zonal surface ocean temperatures (annual, boreal winter and summer) from our base simulation. All data used are provided in this dataset.

Description: An unusually short glaciation interrupted the warm Pliocene around 3.3 Ma (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) M2). Different hypotheses exist to explain why this glaciation event was so pronounced, and why the global climate system returned to warm Pliocene conditions relatively quickly afterwards. One of these proposed mechanisms is a reduced equator-to-pole heat transfer, in response to a tectonically reduced Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). The ITF is a critical part of the global thermohaline ocean circulation, transporting heat from the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool to the Indian Ocean. When ITF connectivity is reduced, the water and heat supply for the Leeuwin Current, flowing poleward along Australia's west coast, is also diminished. To assess the possible relationship between mid-Pliocene glaciations and latitudinal heat transport through the Indonesian Throughflow, we constructed a multi-proxy orbital-scale record for the 3.7–2.8 Ma interval from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1463, off northwest Australia. The comparison of the Site U1463 record with paleoclimate records from nearby Site 763 and West Pacific Warm Pool Site 806 allows for a detailed regional reconstruction of Pliocene paleoceanography and thus for testing the proposed hypothesis. An astronomically-paced decrease in potassium content characterizes the late Pliocene interval of U1463. This record documents the increasing aridity of northwest Australia, periodically alleviated by reinforced summer monsoon precipitation under summer insolation maxima. The d18O record of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer correlates exceptionally well with the sea surface temperature (SST) record from Site 806 in the West Pacific Warm Pool, even during MIS M2. Hence, Site U1463 preserves an uninterrupted ITF signal even during Pliocene glaciations. However, the U1463 d18O G.sacculifer record exhibits a 0.5‰ offset with the nearby Site 763A record around MIS M2. This implies that Site 763A, about 500 km west of U1463, more closely tracks Indian Ocean SST records across MIS M2. The U1463 data reveal that heat-transport through the Indonesian Throughflow did not shut down completely during MIS M2, but rather its intensity decreased prior to and during MIS M2, causing Site 763A to temporarily reflect an Indian Ocean, rather than an ITF signal. We conclude that ITF variability significantly influenced latitudinal heat transport by means of the Leeuwin Current and hence contributed to the relative intensity of MIS M2. We propose the ITF valve between the Pacific and Indian Ocean as a positive feedback mechanism, in which an initial sea level lowering reduces ITF heat transport, in turn amplifying global cooling by advancing the thermal isolation of Antarctica.

Description: Earth's climate has undergone different intervals of gradual change as well as abrupt shifts between climate states. Here we aim to characterize the corresponding changes in climate response to astronomical forcing in the icehouse portion of the Cenozoic, from the latest Eocene to the present. As a tool, we use a 35-m.y.-long d18Obenthic record compiled from different high-resolution benthic isotope records spliced together (what we refer to as a megasplice).We analyze the climate response to astronomical forcing during four 800-k.y.- long time windows. During the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (ca. 15.5 Ma), global climate variability was mainly dependent on Southern Hemisphere summer insolation, ampli ed by a dynamic Antarctic ice sheet; 2.5 m.y. later, relatively warm global climate states occurred during maxima in both Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. At that point, the Antarctic ice sheet grew too big to pulse on the beat of precession, and the Southern Hemisphere lost its overwhelming in uence on the global climate state. Likewise, we juxtapose response regimes of the Miocene (ca. 19 Ma) and Oligocene (ca. 25.5 Ma) warming periods. Despite the similarity in d18Obenthic values and variability, we nd different responses to precession forcing. While Miocene warmth occurs during summer insolation maxima in both hemispheres, Oligocene global warmth is consistently triggered when Earth reaches perihelion in the Northern Hemisphere summer. This pattern is in accordance with previously published paleoclimate modeling results, and suggests an amplifying role for Northern Hemisphere sea ice.