Indian Ocean surface circulation is an important part of the global ocean conveyor belt, and is connected via two important gateways including the Indonesian Throughflow, and the Agulha Leakage. Changes in the surface hydrography of the Indian Ocean may therefore impact on the global overturning circulation. Using planktonic foraminifera-based reconstructions of Indian Ocean surface salinity and temperature, we find that Indian Ocean surface water salinify during glacial intensification. Here we present reconstructions of global mean sea level using the ice sheet model ANICE and benthic foraminifera oxygen isotope data from U1476 to analyse changes in mean global sea level and calculate whole ocean changes in seawater oxygen isotopes. We use this information to show that the Indian Ocean surface hydrography changed in different ways from other ocean basins during Late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles.