Description: Modern global change affects not only the polar north but also, and to increasing extent, the southern high latitudes, especially the Antarctic regions covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Consequently, knowledge of the mechanisms controlling past WAIS dynamics and WAIS behaviour at the last deglaciation is critical to predict its development in a future warming world. Geological and paleobiological information from major drainage areas of the WAIS, like the Amundsen Sea Embayment, shed light on the history of the WAIS glaciers. Sediment records obtained from a deep inner shelf basin north of the Getz Ice Shelf document a deglacial warming in three phases. Above a glacial diamicton and a sediment package barren of microfossils that document sediment deposition by grounded ice and below an ice shelf or perennial sea ice cover (possibly fast ice), respectively, a sediment section with diatom assemblages dominated by sea ice taxa indicates ice shelf retreat and seasonal ice-free conditions. This conclusion is supported by diatom-based summer temperature reconstructions. The early retreat was followed by a phase, when exceptional diatom ooze was deposited between 12,000 and 13,000 cal. years B.P. Microscopical inspection of this ooze revealed excellent preservation of diatom frustules of the species Corethron pennatum together with vegetative Chaetoceros, thus an assemblage usually not preserved in the sedimentary record. Sediments succeeding this section contain diatom assemblages indicating rather constant Holocene cold water conditions with seasonal sea ice. The deposition of the diatom ooze can be related to changes in hydrographic conditions including strong advection of nutrients. However, sediment focussing in the partly steep inner shelf basins cannot be excluded as a factor enhancing the thickness of the ooze deposits. It is not only the presence of the diatom ooze but also the exceptional preservation and the species composition of the diatom assemblage, which point to specific scenarios involving e.g. changes in the food web that can be related to warmer surface water temperatures. Such warming of shelf waters may be related with an overshooting Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and strong injection of warmer North Atlantic Deep Water into the Southern Ocean water masses at Termination I. Such finding may highlight the effects of AMOC changes on Antarctic ice shelf extent and coastal ecosystems. Keywords: WAIS, Amundsen Sea Embayment, diatoms, deglacial warming

Description: Atmosphere-ocean interactions play an important role for understanding processes and feedbacks in the Southern Ocean (SO) and are relevant for changes in Antarctic ice-sheets and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The most important atmospheric forcing at high and mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere is the westerly wind belt (SWW), which strongly affects the strength and extension of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), upwelling of deep-water masses, and controls the back-flow of intermediate waters to the tropics. In order to address orbital and millennial-scale changes of the SWW and the ACC, we present sediment proxy records from the Pacific SO including the Chilean Margin and the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage (DP) represents the most important oceanic gateway along the ACC. Based on grain-size and geochemical properties of sediment records from the southernmost continental margin of South America, we reconstruct changes in DP throughflow dynamics over the past 65,000 years. In combination with published sediment records from the Scotia Sea and preliminary sediment records from the central Drake Passage (Polarstern cruise PS97, 2016), we argue for a considerable total reduction of DP transport and reveal an up to ~40% decrease in flow speed along the northernmost ACC pathway entering the DP during glacial times. Superimposed on this long-term decrease are high-amplitude millennial-scale variations, which parallel Southern Ocean and Antarctic temperature patterns. The glacial intervals of strong weakening of the ACC entering the DP imply a reduced Pacific-Atlantic exchange via the DP (“cold-water route”). The reduced Drake Passage glacial throughflow was accompanied by a pronounced northward extension of the Antarctic cold-water sphere in the Southeast Pacific sector and stronger export of northern ACC water into the South Pacific gyre. These oceanographic changes are consistent with reduced SWW within the modern maximum wind strength zone over the subantarctic ACC and reduced wind forcing due to extended sea-ice further south. Despite this reduction in winds in the core of the westerlies, we observe 3-fold higher dust deposition during glacial periods in Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) Conference September 10-15th 2017, Trieste - Italy the Pacific Southern Ocean (SO). This observation may be explained by a combination of factors including more expanded arid dust source areas in Australia and a northward extent or enhancement of the SWW over Southeast Australia during glacials that would plausibly increase the dust uptake and export into the Pacific SO. Such scenario would imply stronger SWW at the present northernmost margin of the wind belt coeval with weaker core westerlies in the south and reduced ACC strength, including Drake Passage throughflow during glacials. We conclude that changes in DP throughflow play a critical role for the global meridional overturning circulation and interbasin exchange in the Southern Ocean, most likely regulated by variations in the westerly wind field and changes in Antarctic sea-ice extent. Keywords: Pelagic Southern Ocean, Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Southern Westerlies, Teleconnections.

Description: Investigating the interbasin deepwater exchange between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans over glacial-interglacial climate cycles is important for understanding circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean circulation changes and their impact on the global Meridional Overturning Circulation. We use benthic foraminiferal δ13C records from the southern East Pacific Rise to characterize the δ13C composition of Circumpolar Deep Water in the South Pacific, prior to its transit through the Drake Passage into the South Atlantic. A comparison with published South Atlantic deepwater records from the northern Cape Basin suggests a continuous water mass exchange throughout the past 500 ka. Almost identical glacial-interglacial δ13C variations imply a common deepwater evolution in both basins suggesting persistent Circumpolar Deep Water exchange and homogenization. By contrast, deeper abyssal waters occupying the more southern Cape Basin and the southernmost South Atlantic have lower δ13C values during most, but not all, stadial periods. We conclude that these values represent the influence of a more southern water mass, perhaps Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). During many interglacials and some glacial periods, the gradient between Circumpolar Deep Water and the deeper southern Cape Basin bottom water disappears suggesting either no presence of AABW or indistinguishable δ13C values of both water masses.

Description: The results of numerical simulations of the Eltanin impact are combined with the available geological data in order to reconstruct the impact dynamics and to get some constraints on the impact parameters. Numerical simulations show that the Eltanin projectile size should be less than 2 km for a 45° oblique impact and less than 1.5 km for a vertical impact. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the projectile diameter cannot be considerably smaller than 1 km; otherwise, the impact-induced water flow cannot transport eroded sediments across large distances. The maximum displacement approximately equals the water crater radius and rapidly decreases with increasing distances. Numerical simulations also show that ejecta deposits strongly depend on impact angle and projectile size and, therefore, cannot be used for reliable estimates of the initial projectile mass. The initial amplitudes of tsunami-like waves are estimated. The presence of clay-rich sediments, typical for the abyssal basins in cores PS2709 and PS2708 on the Freeden Seamounts (Bellingshausen Sea, Southern Ocean) combined with numerical data allow us to suggest a probable point of impact to the east of the seamounts. The results do not exclude the possibility that a crater in the ocean bottom may exist, but such a structure has not been found yet

Description: Sedimentary proxies used to reconstructmarine productivity suffer fromvariable preservation and are sensitive to factors other than productivity. Therefore, proxy calibration is warranted. Here we map the spatial patterns of two paleoproductivity proxies, biogenic opal and barium fluxes, from a set of core-top sediments recovered in the Subarctic North Pacific. Comparisons of the proxy data with independent estimates of primary and export production, surface water macronutrient concentrations, and biological pCO2 drawdown indicate that neither proxy shows a significant correlation with primary or export productivity for the entire region. Biogenic opal fluxes, when corrected for preservation using 230Th-normalized accumulation rates, show a good correlation with primary productivity along the volcanic arcs (τ =0.71, p = 0.0024) and with export productivity throughout the western Subarctic North Pacific (τ = 0.71, p = 0.0107). Moderate and good correlations of biogenic barium flux with export production (τ = 0.57, p = 0.0022) and with surface water silicate concentrations (τ =0.70, p = 0.0002) are observed for the central and eastern Subarctic North Pacific. For reasons unknown, however, no correlation is found in the western Subarctic North Pacific between biogenic barium flux and the reference data. Nonetheless, we show that barite saturation, uncertainty in the lithogenic barium corrections, and problems with the reference data sets are not responsible for the lack of a significant correlation between biogenic barium flux and the reference data. Further studies evaluating the factors controlling the variability of the biogenic constituents in the sediments are desirable in this region.