Description: Benthic foraminiferal d18O and Mg/Ca of sediment cores off tropical NW Africa are used to study the properties of Atlantic central waters during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1). We combined our core top data with published results to develop a new Mg/Ca-temperature calibration for Planulina ariminensis, which shows a Mg/Ca-temperature sensitivity of 0.19 mmol/mol per °C. Estimates of the LGM and HS1 thermocline temperatures are comparable to the present-day values between 200 and 400 m water depth, but were 1.2-1.5°C warmer at 550-570 m depth. The HS1 thermocline waters (200-570 m depth) did not show any warming relative to the LGM. This is in contrast to previous climate model studies, which concluded that tropical Atlantic thermocline waters warmed significantly when Atlantic meridional overturning circulation was reduced. However, our results suggest that thermocline temperatures of the northeastern tropical Atlantic show no pronounced sensitivity to changes in the thermohaline circulation during glacial periods. In contrast, we find a significant increase in thermocline-water salinity during the LGM (200-550 m depth) and HS1 (200-400 m depth) with respect to the present-day, which we relate to changes in the wind-driven circulation. We infer that the LGM thermocline (200-550 m depth) and the HS1 upper thermocline (200-400 m depth) in the northeastern tropical Atlantic was ventilated by surface waters from the North Atlantic rather than the southern-sourced waters. This suggests that the frontal zone between the modern South Atlantic and North Atlantic Central Waters was probably shifted southward during the LGM and HS1.

Description: Four species of planktic foraminifera from core-tops spanning a depth transect on the Ontong Java Plateau were prepared for Mg/Ca analysis both with (Cd-cleaning) and without (Mg-cleaning) a reductive cleaning step. Reductive cleaning caused etching of foraminiferal calcite, focused on Mg-rich inner calcite, even on tests which had already been partially dissolved at the seafloor. Despite corrosion, there was no difference in Mg/Ca of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata between cleaning methods. Reductive cleaning decreased Mg/Ca by an average (all depths) of ~ 4% for Globigerinoides ruber white and ~ 10% for Neogloboquadrina dutertrei. Mg/Ca of Globigerinoides sacculifer (above the calcite saturation horizon only) was 5% lower after reductive cleaning. The decrease in Mg/Ca due to reductive cleaning appeared insensitive to preservation state for G. ruber, N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata. Mg/Ca of Cd-cleaned G. sacculifer appeared less sensitive to dissolution than that of Mg-cleaned. Mg-cleaning is adequate, but SEM and contaminants (Al/Ca, Fe/Ca and Mn/Ca) show that Cd-cleaning is more effective for porous species. A second aspect of the study addressed sample loss during cleaning. Lower yield after Cd-cleaning for G. ruber, G. sacculifer and N. dutertrei confirmed this to be the more aggressive method. Strongest correlations between yield and Delta[CO3^2-] in core-top samples were for Cd-cleaned G. ruber (r = 0.88, p = 0.020) and Cd-cleaned P. obliquiloculata (r = 0.68, p = 0.030). In a down-core record (WIND28K) correlation, r, between yield values 〉 30% and dissolution index, XDX, was -0.61 (p = 0.002). Where cleaning yield 〈 30% most Mg-cleaned Mg/Ca values were biased by dissolution.

Description: Using the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) including a dynamic global vegetation model, a set of 13 time slice experiments was carried out to study global climate variability between and within the Quaternary interglacials of Marine Isotope Stages (MISs) 1, 5, 11, 13, and 15. The selection of interglacial time slices was based on different aspects of inter- and intra-interglacial variability and associated astronomical forcing. The different effects of obliquity, precession, and greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing on global surface temperature and precipitation fields are illuminated. In most regions seasonal surface temperature anomalies can largely be explained by local insolation anomalies induced by the astronomical forcing. Climate feedbacks, however, may modify the surface temperature response in specific regions, most pronounced in the monsoon domains and the polar oceans. GHG forcing may also play an important role for seasonal temperature anomalies, especially at high latitudes and early Brunhes interglacials (MIS 13 and 15) when GHG concentrations were much lower than during the later interglacials. High- versus low-obliquity climates are generally characterized by strong warming over the Northern Hemisphere extratropics and slight cooling in the tropics during boreal summer. During boreal winter, a moderate cooling over large portions of the Northern Hemisphere continents and a strong warming at high southern latitudes is found. Beside the well-known role of precession, a significant role of obliquity in forcing the West African monsoon is identified. Other regional monsoon systems are less sensitive or not sensitive at all to obliquity variations during interglacials. Moreover, based on two specific time slices (394 and 615 ka), it is explicitly shown that the West African and Indian monsoon systems do not always vary in concert, challenging the concept of a global monsoon system on astronomical timescales. High obliquity can also explain relatively warm Northern Hemisphere high-latitude summer temperatures despite maximum precession around 495 ka (MIS 13). It is hypothesized that this obliquity-induced high-latitude warming may have prevented a glacial inception at that time.

Description: Fossil shells of planktonic foraminifera serve as the prime source of information on past changes in surface ocean conditions. Because the population size of planktonic foraminifera species changes throughout the year, the signal preserved in fossil shells is biased towards the conditions when species production was at its maximum. The amplitude of the potential seasonal bias is a function of the magnitude of the seasonal cycle in production. Here we use a planktonic foraminifera model coupled to an ecosystem model to investigate to what degree seasonal variations in production of the species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma may affect paleoceanographic reconstructions during Heinrich Stadial 1 (~18-15 cal. ka B.P.) in the North Atlantic Ocean. The model implies that during Heinrich Stadial 1 the maximum seasonal production occurred later in the year compared to the Last Glacial Maximum (~21-19 cal. ka B.P.) and the pre-industrial era north of 30 ºN. A diagnosis of the model output indicates that this change reflects the sensitivity of the species to the seasonal cycle of sea-ice cover and food supply, which collectively lead to shifts in the modeled maximum production from the Last Glacial Maximum to Heinrich Stadial 1 by up to six months. Assuming equilibrium oxygen isotopic incorporation in the shells of N. pachyderma, the modeled changes in seasonality would result in an underestimation of the actual magnitude of the meltwater isotopic signal recorded by fossil assemblages of N. pachyderma wherever calcification is likely to take place.

Description: Hominid evolution in the late Miocene has long been hypothesized to be linked to the retreat of the tropical rainforest in Africa. One cause for the climatic and vegetation change often considered was uplift of Africa, but also uplift of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau was suggested to have impacted rainfall distribution over Africa. Recent proxy data suggest that in East Africa open grassland habitats were available to the common ancestors of hominins and apes long before their divergence and do not find evidence for a closed rainforest in the late Miocene. We used the coupled global general circulation model CCSM3 including an interactively coupled dynamic vegetation module to investigate the impact of topography on African hydro-climate and vegetation. We performed sensitivity experiments altering elevations of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau as well as of East and Southern Africa. The simulations confirm the dominant impact of African topography for climate and vegetation development of the African tropics. Only a weak influence of prescribed Asian uplift on African climate could be detected. The model simulations show that rainforest coverage of Central Africa is strongly determined by the presence of elevated African topography. In East Africa, despite wetter conditions with lowered African topography, the conditions were not favorable enough to maintain a closed rainforest. A discussion of the results with respect to other model studies indicates a minor importance of vegetation–atmosphere or ocean–atmosphere feedbacks and a large dependence of the simulated vegetation response on the land surface/vegetation model.

Description: The Middle Miocene Climate Transition was characterized by major Antarctic ice-sheet expansion and global cooling during the interval ~15-13 Ma. Here we present two sets of boundary conditions for global general circulation models characterizing the periods before (Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum; MMCO) and after (Middle Miocene Glaciation; MMG) the transition. These boundary conditions include Middle Miocene global topography, bathymetry and vegetation. Additionally, Antarctic ice volume and geometry, sea-level and atmospheric CO2 concentration estimates for the MMCO and the MMG are reviewed. The MMCO and MMG boundary conditions have been applied to the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) to provide evidence of their suitability for global climate modeling. The boundary-condition files are available for use as input in a wide variety of global climate models and constitute a valuable tool for modeling studies with a focus on the Middle Miocene.

Description: We present a dynamically consistent gridded data set of the global, monthly-mean oxygen isotope ratio of seawater (δ¹⁸Osw). The data set is created from an optimized simulation of an ocean general circulation model constrained by global monthly δ¹⁸Osw data collected from 1950 until 2011 and climatological salinity and temperature data collected from 1951 to 1980. The optimization was obtained using the adjoint method for variational data assimilation, which yields a simulation that is consistent with the observational data and the physical laws incorporated in the model. Our data set performs equally well as a previous data set in terms of model-data misfit and brings an improvement in terms of physical consistency and a seasonal cycle. The data assimilation method shows high potential for interpolating sparse data sets in a physical meaningful way. Comparatively big errors, however, are found in our data set in the surface levels in the Arctic Ocean mainly because there is no influence of isotopically highly depleted precipitation on the ocean in areas with sea-ice, and because of the low model resolution. The data set is the 100-year monthly-mean of the optimized 400-year equilibrium model simulation. It includes simulated δ¹⁸Osw, potential temperature, and salinity on the model grid. The model uses a cubed-sphere grid with a horizontal resolution of 2.8° and 15 vertical levels. We additionally provide the data interpolated onto a 1° lat-lon grid. Values at the edge of the ocean, which could not be interpolated, are set to the respective values in the raw data set on the model grid.

Description: Species of planktonic foraminifera exhibit specific seasonal production patterns and different preferred vertical habitats. The seasonality and vertical habitats are not constant throughout the range of the species and changes therein must be considered when interpreting paleoceanographic reconstructions based on fossil foraminifera. Accounting for the effect of vertical and seasonal habitat tracking on foraminifera proxies at times of climate change is difficult because it requires independent fossil evidence. An alternative that could reduce the bias in paleoceanographic reconstructions is to predict species-specific habitat shifts under climate change using an ecosystem modeling approach. To this end, we present a new version of a planktonic foraminifera model, PLAFOM2.0, embedded into the ocean component of the Community Earth System Model, version 1.2.2. This model predicts monthly global concentrations of the planktonic foraminiferal species: Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, N. incompta, Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinoides ruber (white), and Trilobatus sacculifer throughout the world ocean, resolved in 24 vertical layers to 250m depth. The resolution along the vertical dimension has been implemented by applying the previously used spatial parameterization of biomass as a function of temperature, light, nutrition, and competition on depth-resolved parameter fields. This approach alone results in the emergence of species-specific vertical habitats, which are spatially and temporally variable. Although an explicit parameterization of the vertical dimension has not been carried out, the seasonal and vertical distribution patterns predicted by the model are in good agreement with sediment trap data and plankton tow observations. In the simulation, the colder-water species N. pachyderma, N. incompta, and G. bulloides show a pronounced seasonal cycle in their depth habitat in the polar and subpolar regions, which appears to be controlled by food availability. During the warm season, these species preferably occur in the subsurface, while towards the cold season they ascend through the water column and are found closer to the sea surface. The warm-water species G. ruber (white) and T. sacculifer exhibit a less variable shallow depth habitat with highest biomass concentrations within the top 40m of the water column. Nevertheless, even these species show vertical habitat variability and their seasonal occurrence outside the tropics is limited to the warm surface layer that develops at the end of the warm season. The emergence in PLAFOM2.0 of species-specific vertical habitats that are consistent with observations indicates that the population dynamics of planktonic foraminifera species may be driven by the same factors in time, space, and with depth, in which case the model can provide a reliable and robust tool to aid the interpretation of proxy records.

Description: Abrupt cold events have been detected in numerous North Atlantic climate records from the Holocene. Several mechanisms have been discussed as possible triggers for these climate shifts persisting decades to centuries. Here, we describe two abrupt cold events that occurred during an orbitally forced transient Holocene simulation using the Community Climate System Model version 3. Both events occurred during the late Holocene (4305-4267 BP and 3046-3018 BP, respectively). They were characterized by substantial surface cooling (-2.3 and -1.8 °C, respectively) and freshening (-0.6 and -0.5 PSU, respectively) as well as severe sea ice advance east of Newfoundland and south of Greenland, reaching as far as the Iceland Basin in the northeastern Atlantic at the climaxes of the cold events. Convection and deep-water formation in the northwestern Atlantic collapsed during the events, while the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation was not substantially affected (weakening by only about 10% and 5%, respectively). The events were triggered by prolonged phases of a positive North Atlantic Oscillation caused substantial changes in the sub-polar ocean circulation and associated freshwater transports, resulting in a weakening of the sub-polar gyre. Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which abrupt cold events in the North Atlantic region may be triggered by internal climate variability without the need of an external (e.g. solar or volcanic) forcing.