Description: Highlights • Climate progression in the Balearic basin is examined between 140 and 100 ka. • A number of MIS 5e intra-interglacial cooling events is recognized. • MIS 5e climate phasing in the Western Mediterranean resembles the one in the Nordic Seas. • Foraminiferal abundances are strongly tied to a water circulation regime. • The timing of ORL deposition during MIS 5e resembles that of during the Holocene. Abstract A multiproxy analysis based on planktic foraminiferal abundances, derived SSTs, and stable planktic isotopes measurements together with alkenone abundances and Uk′37 SSTs was performed on late MIS 6 to early MIS 5d sediment recovered from Site 975 (ODP Leg 161) in the South Balearic Islands Basin (Western Mediterranean) with emphasis on reconstructing the climate progression of the last interglacial period. A number of abrupt climate changes related to alternative influence of nutrient rich northern and oligotrophic southern water masses was revealed. Heinrich event 11 and cooling events C27, C26, C25, C24, and C23, which have been previously described in the North Atlantic, were recognized. However, in comparison to the eastern North Atlantic mid-latitude region, events C27 and C26 at Site 975 seem to be significantly more pronounced. Together with evidence of a two-phase climate optimum with maximum SSTs reached during its later phase, this implies a close similarity in climate dynamics between the Western Mediterranean and the Nordic seas. We propose that postglacial effects in the Nordic seas had an influence on the western Mediterranean climate via atmospheric circulation and that these effects competed with the insolation force.

Description: The role of millennial scale climate variability in supplementing the astronomical forcing of glacial-interglacial transitions remains a major unresolved question. Here we compare the occurrence and character of "terminal" ice rafting events in both the North and South Atlantic during the last deglaciation (Termination I, TI) and during the transition between Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 and 11 (or Termination V. TV). We show that TV experienced a massive terminal ice rafting event in the North Atlantic that was more intense and longer lasting than Heinrich event 1 (H1) of the last deglaciation. This massive ice rafting event was linked to cold stadial conditions and reduced deep water formation in the North Atlantic, in parallel with warming at high southern latitudes, similar to the bipolar seesaw pattern exhibited during H1 over the last deglaciation. We propose that the particular intensity and duration of the TV ice rafting event resulted from the especially large volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during MIS12. In turn, the unusually long duration and large amplitude of TV likely resulted from the exceptionally prolonged collapse of the AMOC during the TV Heinrich stadia], and from a subsequent transient AMOC "overshoot" with respect to later MIS11 interglacial circulation. Furthermore, we suggest that the intense Heinrich stadial of TV contributed to the deglaciation primarily via meridional heat transport anomalies that would have enhanced the incipient warming arising from relatively weak insolation forcing, and only secondarily via CO2 release

Description: Temporal and spatial patterns in eastern North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures (SST) were reconstructed for marine isotope stage (MIS) 11c using a submeridional transect of five sediment cores. The SST reconstructions are based on planktic foraminiferal abundances and alkenone indices, and are supported by benthic and planktic stable isotope measurements, as well as by ice-rafted debris content in polar and middle latitudes. Additionally, the larger-scale dynamics of the precipitation regime over northern Africa and the western Mediterranean region was evaluated from iron concentrations in marine sediments off NW Africa and planktic δ13C in combination with analysis of planktic foraminiferal abundances down to the species level in the Mediterranean Sea. Compared to the modern situation, it is revealed that during entire MIS 11c sensu stricto (ss), i.e., between 420 and 398 ka according to our age models, a cold SST anomaly in the Nordic seas co-existed with a warm SST anomaly in the middle latitudes and the subtropics, resulting in steeper meridional SST gradients than during the Holocene. Such a SST pattern correlates well with a prevalence of a negative mode of the modern North Atlantic Oscillation. We suggest that our scenario might partly explain the longer duration of wet conditions in the northern Africa during MIS 11c compared to the Holocene.

Description: Arctic paleoceanography and sea-ice history were reconstructed from epipelagic and benthic ostracodes from a sediment core (HLY0503-06JPC, 800 m water depth) located on the Mendeleev Ridge, Western Arctic Ocean. The calcareous microfaunal record (ostracodes and foraminifers) covers several glacial/interglacial cycles back to estimated Marine Isotope Stage 13 (MIS 13, ∼500 ka) with an average sedimentation rate of ∼0.5 cm/ka for most of the stratigraphy (MIS 5–13). Results based on ostracode assemblages and an unusual planktic foraminiferal assemblage in MIS 11 dominated by a temperate-water species Turborotalita egelida show that extreme interglacial warmth, high surface ocean productivity, and possibly open ocean convection characterized MIS 11 and MIS 13 (∼400 and 500 ka, respectively). A major shift in western Arctic Ocean environments toward perennial sea ice occurred after MIS 11 based on the distribution of an ice-dwelling ostracode Acetabulastoma arcticum. Spectral analyses of the ostracode assemblages indicate sea ice and mid-depth ocean circulation in western Arctic Ocean varied primarily at precessional (∼22 ka) and obliquity (∼40 ka) frequencies.

Description: A multi-proxy analysis based on planktic foraminiferal abundances and derived SSTs, abundances of alkenone compounds and alkenone SSTs as well as stable isotopes measurements was performed for Site 975 (ODP Leg 161) from the slope of the South Balearic-Islands basin (Western Mediterranean) across late MIS 6 to early MIS 5d periods with emphasis on the climate progression of the last inter-glacial period. A number of abrupt climate changes related to alternative influence of northern nutrient rich and southern oligotrophic water masses were revealed. Among climate fluctuations, Heinrich Event 11 and cooling events C 27, C 26, C 25, C 24, C23 which had been detected earlier in the North Atlantic, were recognised. However, in comparison to the eastern North Atlantic mid-latitude region, at Site 975 events C27 and C26 seem to be significantly more pronounced. This fact along with evidence of two-phase climate optimum with the SSTs maximum reached during its later phase implies close similarity in climate dynamics between the Western Mediterranean and the Nordic Seas. It is proposed that postglacial effects in the Nordic Seas had an influence on the western Mediterranean climate via atmospheric circulation and competed with the insolation effect.

Description: Highlights • North Atlantic records indicate an intense Heinrich stadial (HS) during Termination V. • The HS probably resulted from extreme glacial conditions during MIS12. • The HS curtailed AMOC, shaping TV via meridional heat transport anomalies. • The rate of CO2 release during the HS of TV was lower than during HS1. • North Atlantic overturning during MIS11 was enhanced with respect to the Holocene. Abstract The role of millennial scale climate variability in supplementing the astronomical forcing of glacial–interglacial transitions remains a major unresolved question. Here we compare the occurrence and character of “terminal” ice rafting events in both the North and South Atlantic during the last deglaciation (Termination I, TI) and during the transition between Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 and 11 (or Termination V, TV). We show that TV experienced a massive terminal ice rafting event in the North Atlantic that was more intense and longer lasting than Heinrich event 1 (H1) of the last deglaciation. This massive ice rafting event was linked to cold stadial conditions and reduced deep water formation in the North Atlantic, in parallel with warming at high southern latitudes, similar to the bipolar seesaw pattern exhibited during H1 over the last deglaciation. We propose that the particular intensity and duration of the TV ice rafting event resulted from the especially large volume of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during MIS12. In turn, the unusually long duration and large amplitude of TV likely resulted from the exceptionally prolonged collapse of the AMOC during the TV Heinrich stadial, and from a subsequent transient AMOC “overshoot” with respect to later MIS11 interglacial circulation. Furthermore, we suggest that the intense Heinrich stadial of TV contributed to the deglaciation primarily via meridional heat transport anomalies that would have enhanced the incipient warming arising from relatively weak insolation forcing, and only secondarily via CO2 release.

Description: A pronounced intra-interglacial MIS 11 cold event was revealed in the North Atlantic by sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) reconstructions. SSTs were established using TEX86-indices derived from relative abundances of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) of Thaumarcheota and alkenone-based Uk’37 indices. To assess variations in palaeo-SSS, the hydrogen isotopic (δD) compositions of long chain alkenones were determined. For further interpretation, the obtained SST and SSS reconstructions were compared to relative planktic foraminiferal abundances, ice rafted debris (IRD) counts and δ18O records from benthic and planktic foraminifera. According to our data, the temperature amplitude of the aforementioned cold event reached 7 °C. We assume that this value might combine the actual cooling with an additional effect of a vertical migration of the Thaumarchaeota to deeper and, therefore, colder water layers, which might occur due to an enhanced intensity of open ocean upwelling which is generally characteristic for this location during cooling episodes. This explanation is also supported by changes in stable oxygen isotopes of deep-living planktic foraminiferal species G. truncatulinoides (s) and (d). A pronounced increase of δ18O values contemporaneous with the cold event might indicate a change of habitat conditions of these species towards colder temperatures. Another evidence of enhanced upwelling intensity during this episode might be derived from increased relative abundance of planktic foraminiferal species G. bulloides, whose geographical distribution is related to upwelling zones. A salinity drop was registered before the SST decrease. Because the intra-interglacial MIS 11 cold event occurred during the phase of slowly decreasing benthic δ18O values, we assume that it might be related to the late phase of the circum-North Atlantic ice sheet decay. Therefore, its nature might resemble the one of the 8.2 ka Holocene event.