Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum

C. Waelbroeck (1) , A. Paul (2) , Michal Kucera (3) , Antoni Rosell-Melé (4, 5) , Mara Weinelt , Ralph Schneider , Alan C. Mix , Andrea Abelmann , Leanne Armand (6) , Edouard Bard (7) , Stephen Barker , Timothy T. Barrows , H. Benway , Isabel Cacho (8) , Min-Te Chen , Elsa Cortijo (9, 1) , X. Crosta (10) , Anne de Vernal , Trond Dokken (11) , Josette Duprat , Harry Elderfield , Frédérique Eynaud (10) , Rainer Gersonde (12) , Angela Hayes (13) , M. Henry (14) , Claude Hillaire-Marcel (14) , C.-C. Huang , Eystein Jansen , Stephen Juggins , N. Kallel (15) , Thorsten Kiefer (16) , M. Kienast , Laurent Labeyrie (9, 1) , H. Leclaire , L. Londeix , S. Mangin (17) , Jens Matthiessen , F. Marret (18) , M. Meland , Ann E. Morey , Stefan Mulitza (19) , Uwe Pflaumann , N. G. Pisias , T. Radi , A. Rochon , Eelco J. Rohling (20) , Laura Sbaffi , C. Schaefer-Neth , Sandrine Solignac , Howard J. Spero , Tachikawa Kazuyo (7) , J.-L. Turon , Margo Project Members

1 PALEOCEAN - Paléocéanographie
2 Department of Geosciences
3 Institute of Geosciences
4 ICTA - Institute of Environmental Science and Technology [Barcelona]
5 ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats = Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies
6 SCIB - UMR E3 - Service de Chimie Inorganique et Biologique
7 Collège de France - Chaire Evolution du climat et de l'océan
8 Department of Stratigraphy Paleontology and Marine Geosciences
9 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
10 EPOC - Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques
11 BCCR - Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
12 Department of Bentho-pelagic processes
13 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences [Pasadena]
14 GEOTOP - Centre de recherche sur la dynamique du système Terre
15 Unité GEOGLOB
16 PAGES International Project Office
17 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé
18 School of Environmental Sciences
19 MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences [Bremen]
20 NOC - National Oceanography Centre [Southampton]

Observation-based reconstructions of sea surface temperature from relatively stable periods in the past, such as the Last Glacial Maximum, represent an important means of constraining climate sensitivity and evaluating model simulations(1). The first quantitative global reconstruction of sea surface temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum was developed by the Climate Long-Range Investigation, Mapping and Prediction (CLIMAP) project in the 1970s and 1980s (refs 2,3). Since that time, several shortcomings of that earlier effort have become apparent(4). Here we present an updated synthesis of sea surface temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum, rigorously defined as the period between 23 and 19 thousand years before present, from the Multiproxy Approach for the Reconstruction of the Glacial Ocean Surface (MARGO) project(5). We integrate microfossil and geochemical reconstructions of surface temperatures and include assessments of the reliability of individual records. Our reconstruction reveals the presence of large longitudinal gradients in sea surface temperature in all of the ocean basins, in contrast to the simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum climate available at present(6,7).

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

C. Waelbroeck, A. Paul, Michal Kucera, Antoni Rosell-Melé, Mara Weinelt, et al.. Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature Geoscience, 2009, 2 (2), pp.127-132. ⟨10.1038/NGEO411⟩. ⟨hal-01463323⟩