ALBERT

Description: The only low latitude pathway of heat and salt from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, known as Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), has been suggested to modulate Global Mean Surface Temperature (GMST) warming through redistribution of surface Pacific Ocean heat. ITF observations are only available since ~1990s, and thus, its multidecadal variability on longer time scales has remained elusive. Here we present a 200 year bimonthly record of geochemical parameters (d18O-Sr/Ca) measured on Cocos (Keeling) corals tracking sea surface temperature (SST; Sr/Ca) and sea surface salinity (SSS; seawater-d18O-d18Osw) in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (SETIO). Our results show that SETIO SSS and d18Osw were impacted by ITF transport over the past 60 years, and therefore, reconstructions of Cocos d18Osw hold information on past ITF variability on longer time spans. Over the past 200 years ITF leakage into SETIO is dominated by the interannual climate modes of the Pacific Ocean (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) and Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean Dipole). Pacific decadal climate variability (represented by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) significantly impacted ITF strength over the past 200 years determining the spatiotemporal SST and SSS advection into the Indian Ocean on multidecadal time scales. A comparison of our SETIO d18Osw record to GMST shows that ITF transport varied in synchrony with global warming rate, being predominantly high/low during GMST warming slowdown/acceleration, respectively. This hints toward an important role for the ITF in global warming rate modulation.

Description: To study shifts in phytoplankton proxies linked to terrigenous inputs and teleconnections, we analyze the composite core MV99 GC41/PC14 from Soledad Basin, Gulf of Ulloa, NW Mexico. We used biogenic opal (% opal), organic carbon (% TOC) and inorganic carbon (% CaCO3) as proxies of productivity; and opal/TOC and CaCO3/TOC ratios as proxies of nutrient uptake and C-export by siliceous and carbonate organisms. We reconstructed terrestrial inputs using grain size Weibull analyses. Grain size analyses show significant amounts of fine fraction (between 0.06 - 6.6 µm) present during the early- to mid-Holocene in agreement to extreme weather on land, with episodes of aeolian and fluvial transport to the sea. The found that ENSO-like variations influence biological C-export producers on a scale of 1.1-1.8 ka, although PDO-related variability is uncertain. We suggest that Holocene drivers for phytoplankton successions are changes in insolation, ITCZ migration, California Current upwelling, nutrient inputs by advection and terrestrial sources.

Description: The Mg/Ca of planktic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber (white) is a widely applied proxy for tropical and sub-tropical sea-surface temperature. The accuracy with which temperature can be reconstructed depends on how accurately relationships between Mg/Ca and temperature and the multiple secondary controls on Mg/Ca are known; however, these relationships remain poorly quantified under oceanic conditions. Here, we present new calibrations based on 440 sediment trap/plankton tow samples from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, including 130 new samples from the Bay of Bengal/Arabian Sea and the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Our results indicate temperature, salinity and the carbonate system all significantly influence Mg/Ca in G. ruber (white). We propose two calibration models: The first model assumes pH is the controlling carbonate system parameter. In this model, Mg/Ca has a temperature sensitivity of 6.0 ± 0.8 %/°C (2 Sigma), a salinity sensitivity of 3.3 ± 2.2%/PSU and a pH sensitivity of -8.3 ± 7.7%/0.1 pH units; The second model assumes carbonate ion concentration ([CO3**2-]) is the controlling carbonate system parameter. In this model, Mg/Ca has a temperature sensitivity of 6.7 ± 0.8%/°C, a salinity sensitivity of 5.0 ± 3.0%/PSU and a [CO3**2-] sensitivity of -0.24 ± 0.11/µmol kg**1. In both models, the temperature sensitivity is significantly lower than the widely-applied sensitivity of 9.0 ± 0.6%/°C. Application of our new calibrations to down-core data from the Last Glacial Maximum, considering whole ocean changes in salinity and carbonate chemistry, indicate a cooling of 2.4 ± 1.6 °C in the tropical oceans if pH is the controlling parameter and 1.5 ± 1.4 °C if [CO3**2-] is the controlling parameter.