Estimates of annual mean surface temperatures in the late Quaternary of the tropical Atlantic

DOI

At least two modes of glacial-interglacial climate change have existed within the tropical Atlantic Ocean during the last 20,000 years. The first mode (defined by cold glacial and warm interglacial conditions) occurred symmetrically north and south of the equator and dominated the eastern boundary currents and tropical upwelling areas. This pattern suggests that mode 1 is driven by a glacial modification of surface winds in both hemispheres. The second mode of oceanic climate change, defined by temperature extremes centered on the deglaciation, was hemispherically asymmetrical, with the northern tropical Atlantic relatively cold and the southern tropical Atlantic relatively warm during deglaciation. A likely cause for this pattern of variation is a reduction of the presently northward cross-equatorial heat flux during deglaciation. No single mechanism accounts for all the data. Potential contributors to oceanic climate changes are linkage to high-latitude climates, modification of monsoonal winds by ice sheet and/or insolation changes, atmospheric CO2 and greenhouse effects, indirect effects of glacial meltwater, and variations in thermohaline overturn of the oceans.

Supplement to: Mix, Alan C; Ruddiman, William F; McIntyre, Andrew (1986): Late Quaternary paleoceanography of the Tropical Atlantic, 1: spatial variability of annual mean sea-surface temperatures, 0-20,000 years B.P. Paleoceanography, 1(1), 43-66

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.726686
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1029/PA001i001p00043
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.726686
Provenance
Creator Mix, Alan C ORCID logo; Ruddiman, William F; McIntyre, Andrew
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 1986
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 34 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-75.933W, -10.070S, 6.050E, 34.780N); East Atlantic
Temporal Coverage Begin 1959-05-08T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 1983-04-03T00:00:00Z