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Small changes in the sea surface temperature during the last 20,000 years: Molecular evidence from the western tropical Pacific
Author(s) -
Ohkouchi N.,
Kawamura K.,
Nakamura T.,
Taira A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/94gl01991
Subject(s) - alkenone , sea surface temperature , oceanography , foraminifera , last glacial maximum , glacial period , paleoclimatology , plankton , geology , climatology , western hemisphere warm pool , climate change , holocene , paleontology , benthic zone
One of the most controversial problems of glacial paleoclimatology is the conservative change in tropical sea surface temperature (SST) in contrast with the large high altitude temperature change in the western tropical Pacific. In this report SST was estimated for the last 20,000 years using alkenones preserved in marine sediments recovered from a site 800 km north of New Guinea. The UK 37 (unsaturation degree of long‐chain alkenones synthesized by planktonic prymnesiophyte algae) record suggests that SST decreased at most 1.5°C at the last glacial maximum. This small changes in SST of the western tropical Pacific is concordant with results previously reported in UK 37 studies from the eastern equatorial Pacific and the equatorial Atlantic. The UK 37 ‐based SST estimates are in good agreement with the CLIMAP results and planktonic foraminifera δ 18 O, but much smaller than those (ca. −5°C) obtained from coral Sr/Ca and δ 18 O thermometries and glacial vegetation reconstruction.