Rainer Zahn

Variability of the western Mediterranean Sea surface temperature during the last 25,000 years and its connection with the Northern Hemisphere climatic changes

Sea surface temperature (SST) profiles over the last 25 kyr derived from alkenone measurements are studied in four cores from a W-E latitudinal transect encompassing the Gulf of Cadiz (Atlantic Ocean), the Alboran Sea, and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (western Mediterranean). The results document the sensitivity of the Mediterranean region to the short climatic changes of the North Atlantic Ocean, particularly those involving the latitudinal position of the polar front. The amplitude of the SST oscillations increases toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, indicating an amplification effect of the Atlantic signal by the climatic regime of the Mediterranean region. All studied cores show a shorter cooling phase (700 years) for the Younger Dryas (YD) than that observed in the North Atlantic region (1200 years). This time diachroneity is related to an intra-YD climatic change documented in the European continent. Minor oscillations in the southward displacement of the North Atlantic polar front may also have driven this early warming in the studied area. During the Holocene a regional diachroneity propagating west to east is observed for the SST maxima, 11.5–10.2 kyr B.P. in the Gulf of Cadiz, 10–9 kyr B.P. in the Alboran Sea, and 8.9–8.4 kyr B.P. in the Thyrrenian Sea. A general cooling trend from these SST maxima to present day is observed during this stage, which is marked by short cooling oscillations with a periodicity of 730±40 years and its harmonics.

On the role of the Agulhas system in ocean circulation and climate

The Atlantic Ocean receives warm, saline water from the Indo-Pacific Ocean through Agulhas leakage around the southern tip of Africa. Recent findings suggest that Agulhas leakage is a crucial component of the climate system and that ongoing increases in leakage under anthropogenic warming could strengthen the Atlantic overturning circulation at a time when warming and accelerated meltwater input in the North Atlantic is predicted to weaken it. Yet in comparison with processes in the North Atlantic, the overall Agulhas system is largely overlooked as a potential climate trigger or feedback mechanism. Detailed modelling experiments—backed by palaeoceanographic and sustained modern observations—are required to establish firmly the role of the Agulhas system in a warming climate.

Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change

This is a comprehensive progress report on the multidisciplinary field of ocean and climate change research. It compiles introductory background papers and leading scientific results on the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle with emphasis on the oceans carbon inventory and the various components involved. The relationship between plankton productivity, carbon fixation, oceanic PCO2 and climate change is investigated from the viewpoint of long-term climatic change during the late Quaternary cycles of Ice Ages and Warm Ages. The various approaches range from micropalaeontology over organic and trace element geochemistry to molecular isotope geochemistry.

Role of Panama uplift on oceanic freshwater balance

Comparison between planktic foraminiferal oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean Sea (Ocean Drilling Program [ODP] Site 999) and the equatorial east Pacific (ODP Site 851) suggests an increase in Caribbean surface-water salinity between 4.7 and 4.2 Ma. The modern Atlantic-Pacific salinity contrast of about 1‰ became fully established at 4.2 Ma as reflected by a 0.5‰ planktic foraminifera 18O enrichment in the Caribbean Sea. This is interpreted as the result of restricted surface-water exchange between the tropical Atlantic and Pacific in response to the shoaling of the Central American seaway. As a consequence, the Atlantic and Pacific surface-ocean circulation regime changed, as did the freshwater balance between the major ocean basins. Simultaneous shifts in benthic carbon isotope records in the Caribbean Sea suggest an intensification in North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. These results indicate that the Panamanian isthmus formation caused several new ocean-atmosphere feedback mechanisms that have affected climate since the early Pliocene.

Thermohaline instability in the North Atlantic during meltwater events: Stable isotope and ice‐rafted detritus records from Core SO75‐26KL, Portuguese Margin

A benthic isotope record has been measured for core SO75-26KL from the upper Portuguese margin (1099 m water depth) to monitor the response of thermohaline overturn in the North Atlantic during Heinrich events. Evaluating benthic δ18O in TS diagrams in conjunction with equilibrium δc fractionation implies that advection of Mediterranean outflow water (MOW) to the upper Portuguese margin was significantly reduced during the last glacial (< 15% compared to 30% today). The benthic isotope record along core SO75-26KL therefore primarily monitors variability of glacial North Atlantic conveyor circulation. The 14C-accelerator mass spectrometry ages of 13.54±.07 and 20.46±.12 ka for two ice-rafted detritus (IRD) layers in the upper core section and an interpolated age of 36.1 ka for a third IRD layer deeper in the core are in the range of published 14C ages for Heinrich events H1, H2, and H4. Marked depletion of benthic δ13C by 0.7–1.1‰ during the Heinrich events suggests reduced thermohaline overturn in the North Atlantic during these events. Close similarity between meltwater patterns (inferred from planktonic δ18O) at Site 609 and ventilation patterns (inferred from benthic δ13C) in core SO75-26KL implies coupling between thermohaline overturn and surface forcing, as is also suggested by ocean circulation models. Benthic δ13C starts to decrease 1.5–2.5 kyr before Heinrich events Hl and H4, fully increased values are reached 1.5–3 kyr after the events, indicating a successive slowdown of thermohaline circulation well before the events and resumption of the conveyors full strength well after the events. Benthic δ13C changes in the course of the Heinrich events show subtle maxima and minima suggesting oscillatory behavior of thermohaline circulation, a distinct feature of thermohaline instability in numerical models. Inferrred gradual spin-up of thermohaline circulation after Hl and H4 is in contrast to abrupt wanning in the North Atlantic region that is indicated by sudden increases in Greenland ice core δ18O and in marine faunal records from the northern North Atlantic. From this we infer that thermohaline circulation can explain only in part the rapid climatic oscillations seen in glacial sections of the Greenland ice core record.

Enhanced aridity and atmospheric high-pressure stability over the western Mediterranean during the North Atlantic cold events of the past 50 k.y.

Multiproxy paleoenvironmental records (pollen and planktonic isotope) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 976 (Alboran Sea) document rapid ocean and climate variations during the last glacial that follow the Dansgaard-Oeschger climate oscillations seen in the Greenland ice core records, thus suggesting a close link of the Mediterranean climate swings with North Atlantic climates. Continental conditions rapidly oscillated through cold-arid and warm-wet conditions in the course of stadial-interstadial climate jumps. At the time of Heinrich events, i.e., maximum meltwater flux to the North Atlantic, western Mediterranean marine microflora and microfauna show rapid cooling correlated with increasing continental dryness. Enhanced aridity conceivably points to prolonged wintertime stability of atmospheric high-pressure systems over the southwestern Mediterranean in conjunction with cooling of the North Atlantic.

Late Glacial to Holocene history of the Mediterranean Outflow. Evidence from benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes at the Portuguese margin

Records of benthic foraminiferal assemblage variations and benthic δ13C along 12 sediment cores from the western Iberian Margin, between 36° and 42°N at water depths from 820 to 3580 m, are used to monitor fluctuations of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) during the past 30 ka. The chronostratigraphy of the cores is based on planktonic δ18O records, 14C AMS-dating, and the recognition of Heinrich Events H1 through H4. Increased abundances of suspension feeding benthic foraminifers, denoted as ’Epibenthos Group‘, closely match areas where the recent MOW core layers impinge on the continental slope at 800 and 1300 m water depth, and near-bottom current velocities are enhanced. Elevated ‘Epibenthos Group’ abundances, increased benthic δ13C, and sedimentological evidence for winnowing and erosion are found in glacial sections up to the earliest Termination I in cores at water depths between 1600 and 2200 m off southern Portugal. The combined evidence reveals enhanced current activity at these depths due to a deep glacial MOW. The MOW advection at the Portuguese margin during the last Glacial was about 700 m deeper than today, conceivably forced by increased MOW density due to higher salinity and colder temperatures of Mediterranean waters. The deep MOW current gradually decreased in strength and shoaled to 1300 m water depth during the Termination and early Holocene. A shallow MOW core layer became active with the onset of Termination I at depths between 600 and 1000 m. Both the shallow and deep MOW current culminated during the Younger Dryas period. The present flow pattern with two MOW core layers centred at 800 and 1300 m water depth was established between 7.5 and 5.5 ka.

Eocene-Oligocene transition in the Southern Ocean: History of water mass circulation and biological productivity

High-resolution records of carbon and oxygen isotopes and benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates for the Eocene-Oligocene section at Ocean Drilling Program Site 689(Maud Rise, Weddell Sea; paleodepth about 1500 m) were used to infer variations in paleoproductivity in relation to changes in climate and ventilation of the deeper-water column. The benthic foraminiferal abundance and isotope records show short-term fluctuations at periodicities of 100 and 400 ka, implying orbitally driven climatic variations. Both records suggest that intermediate-depth water chemistry and primary productivity changed in response to climate. During the Eocene, productivity increased during cold periods and during cold-to-warm transitions, possibly as a result of increased upwelling of nutrient-rich waters. In the Oligocene, in contrast, productivity maxima occurred during intervals of low d18O values (presumably warmer periods), when a proto–polar front moved to the south of the location of Site 689. This profound transition in climate-productivity patterns occurred around 37 Ma, coeval with rapid changes toward increasing variability of the oxygen and carbon isotope and benthic abundance records and toward larger-amplitude d18O fluctuations. Therefore, we infer that, at this time, temperature fluctuations increased and a proto–polar front formed in conjunction with the first distinct pulsations in size of the Antarctic ice sheet. We speculate that this major change might have resulted from an initial opening of the Drake Passage at 37 Ma, at least for surface- and intermediate-water circulation.

Paleoproductivity and carbon burial across the California Current: The multitracers transect, 42°N

The Multitracers Experiment studied a transect of water column, sediment trap, and sediment data taken across the California Current to develop quantitative methods for hindcasting paleoproductivity. The experiment used three sediment trap moorings located 120 km, 270 km, and 630 km from shore at the Oregon/California border in North America. We report here about the sedimentation and burial of particulate organic carbon (Corg) and CaCO3. In order to observe how the integrated CaCO3 and Corg burial across the transect has changed since the last glacial maximum, we have correlated core from the three sites using time scales constrained by both radiocarbon and oxygen isotopes. By comparing surface sediments to a two-and-a-half year sediment trap record, we have also defined the modern preservation rates for many of the labile sedimentary materials. Our analysis of the Corg data indicates that significant amounts (20–40%) of the total Corg being buried today in surface sediments is terrestrial. At the last glacial maximum, the terrestrial Corg fraction within 300 km of the coast was about twice as large. Such large fluxes of terrestrial Corg obscure the marine Corg record, which can be interpreted as productivity. When we corrected for the terrestrial organic matter, we found that the mass accumulation rate of marine Corg roughly doubled from the glacial maximum to the present. Because preservation rates of organic carbon are high in the high sedimentation rate cores, corrections for degradation are straightforward and we can be confident that organic carbon rain rate (new productivity) also doubled. As confirmation, the highest burial fluxes of other biogenic components (opal and Ba) also occur in the Holocene. Productivity off Oregon has thus increased dramatically since the last glacial maximum. CaCO3 fluxes also changed radically through the deglaciation; however, they are linked not to CaCO3 production but rather to changes in deepwater carbonate chemistry between 18 Ka and now.

Paleoproductivity of Oceanic Upwelling and the Effect on Atmospheric C02 and Climatic Change during Deglaciation Times

In addition to variations in the Earth’s orbit, changes in atmospheric pC02 represent an important factor in creating global climatic and ice volume changes. Atmospheric pC02 fluctuations are largely controlled by the exchange rates of C02 between the atmosphere and ocean reservoirs, an exchange which greatly depends upon plankton primary productivity in oceanic upwelling regions, where the carbon to carbonate “Rain Ratio” (Berger and Keir, 1984) is high. In order to test this model, a new equation to calculate the local ocean paleoproductivity has been developed. The formula is based on the relationships between carbon accumulation rate, water depth, and carbon-free bulk sedimentation rates (as a “sealing factor”) of deep-sea sediments, and is independent of a large range of bottom water 02 concentration. For comparison with paleoproductivity, δ13C fluctuations of Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi serve to record the total C02 dissolved in North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). In the region of coastal upwelling off northwest Africa, paleoproductivity increased by a factor of three from interglacial to glacial stages depicting a clear 100,000 year cycle. In oceanic “deserts”, the productivity varied much less, but approximately with the same cycle during the last 0.5 my. Phase relationships during the last two Terminations show that trade wind strength and related productivity due to upwelling in the east Atlantic started to decrease slightly prior to or simultaneously with global ice melting, synchronously with a drastic increase in atmospheric pC02 (after Neftel et al., 1982). On the other hand, C02 depletion in the NADW only followed after some 2500 to 4500 years, and thus, cannot have caused the change in atmospheric C02. The high latitude insolation balance which causes changes in sea-ice cover and thus, of meridional trade wind intensity, is regarded as the prime factor responsible for this massive feedback mechanism for climatic change.