NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Arctic Bay Coralline Algae d18O Data from 1967-2008 CE

An increased number of climate proxy records and more refined interpretation of proxy data are crucial to improve projections of future climate at high latitudes, where internal feedbacks amplify warming and established high-resolution climate archives are especially sparse. Encrusting coralline algae are being developed as a mid- to high-latitude marine climate archive. These long-lived algae form a solid high-Mg calcite skeleton with annual growth bands similar to those of trees and tropical corals. The oxygen isotope ratio of the algal skeleton (d18Oalg) records local environmental and climatic factors, notably sea surface temperature and seawater d18O. Here we assess the d18Oalg–climate relationship in diverse environments across the algal habitat range utilizing two species of coralline algae from the genus Clathromorphum. Clathromorphum is widely distributed from the cold-temperate North Atlantic and Pacific to the Arctic Ocean and has recently yielded numerous climate reconstructions of up to 650 years in length. In this study, we calibrate d18Oalg of four specimens to gridded temperature and salinity data, the latter a proxy for seawater d18O. These specimens were collected from a variety of algal growth environments across the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere: two specimens from the Aleutian Archipelago, one from the Canadian Arctic, and one from the Gulf of Maine. Low winter temperatures and insolation restrict the months when algae record local climate in the d18O of their skeletons; we therefore determine these response seasons by correlating monthly temperature and salinity anomalies with annual d18Oalg anomalies at each site. We then average gridded data over months that correlate significantly (95% confidence interval) for regression with d18Oalg. While the timing and nature of the climate signal vary across sites, we find significant relationships between d18Oalg and either temperature or salinity averaged over the response season at three sites. Variation in local climatology among the four sites provides a physical explanation for calibration differences, compounded by uncertainties stemming from the proxy chronology, biological variability, temporal coverage, and sparse historical climate data. This work takes an essential step toward reconstructing high-latitude marine climate patterns with coralline algal d18O and developing algae proxy system models.