NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Subarctic Northeast Pacific sea surface temperatures during the past 16,000 years

Changes of sea surface temperature (SST) in the subarctic NE Pacific over the last 16,000 calendar years before present (16 kyr BP) have been inferred from the study of C37 alkenone unsaturation in a sediment core from the western Canadian continental slope. Between 16.0 and 11.0 kyr, three distinct cold phases (6–7°C) interrupt two warmer periods (9–10°C). Within the 2σ range of the radiocarbon based time control, the observed SST oscillations correspond to the Oldest Dryas, the Bølling, the Older Dryas, the Allerød, and the Younger Dryas periods in the GISP2 δ18O record. These results represent the first high resolution marine paleo-temperature estimates off the northern west coast of North America and imply that the climate of this region may be very strongly coupled to that of the North Atlantic. Given the fast rates of SST change (1°C/40–80 yr), such coupling must be controlled by atmospheric transmission of the climate signal.