Biomarker distributions and calculated sea surface temperatures from the North Pacific Ocean

DOI

In order to study the modern sea surface characteristics of the sub-polar North Pacific and the Bering Sea, i.e. sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice cover, surface sediments recovered during the RV Sonne Expedition 202 in 2009 were analysed. To distinguish between marine and terrestrial organic carbon, hydrogen index values, long chain n-alkanes and specific sterols have been determined. The results show that in the Bering Sea, especially on the sea slope, the organic carbon source is mainly caused by high primary production. In the North Pacific, on the other hand, the organic material originates predominantly from terrestrial higher plants, probably related to dust input from Asia. SST has been reconstructed using the modified alkenone unsaturation index. Calibration from Müller et al. (1998, doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(98)00097-0) offers the most reliable estimate of mean annual temperature in the central North Pacific but does not correlate with mean annual temperature throughout the study area. In the eastern North Pacific and the Bering Sea, the Sikes et al. (1997, doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(97)00017-3) calibration seems to be more accurate and matches summer SST. The distribution of the novel sea ice proxy IP25 (highly branched C25 isoprenoid alkene) in surface sediments is in accord with the modern spring sea ice edge and shows the potential of this proxy to track past variation in sea ice cover in the study area.

Supplement to: Méheust, Marie; Fahl, Kirsten; Stein, Ruediger (2013): Variability in modern sea surface temperature, sea ice and terrigenous input in the sub-polar North Pacific and Bering Sea: Reconstruction from biomarker data. Organic Geochemistry, 57, 54-64

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.804518
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2013.01.008
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.804518
Provenance
Creator Méheust, Marie; Fahl, Kirsten ORCID logo; Stein, Ruediger ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2013
Funding Reference German Research Foundation https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Crossref Funder ID 5472008 https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/5472008 Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 2 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-148.884W, 37.767S, 149.485E, 60.403N)
Temporal Coverage Begin 2009-07-10T15:29:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2009-08-23T09:56:00Z