Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years

G. M. Ganssen; F. J. C. Peeters; B. Metcalfe; P. Anand; Simon Jung; D. Kroon; G-J A. Brummer

doi:10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011

Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years

G. M. Ganssen, F. J. C. Peeters, B. Metcalfe, P. Anand, Simon Jung, D. Kroon, G-J A. Brummer

School of Geosciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera tests is one of the widest used geochemical tools to reconstruct past changes of physical parameters of the upper ocean. It is common practice to analyze multiple individuals from a mono-specific population and assume that the outcome reflects a mean value of the environmental conditions during calcification of the analyzed individuals. Here we present the oxygen isotope composition of individual specimens of the surface-dwelling species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides from sediment cores in the Western Arabian Sea off Somalia, inferred as indicators of past seasonal ranges in temperature. Combining the delta O-18 measurements of individual specimens to obtain temperature ranges with Mg/Ca based mean calcification temperatures allows us to reconstruct temperature extrema. Our results indicate that over the past 20 kyr the seasonal temperature range has fluctuated from its present value of 16 degrees C to mean values of 13 degrees C and 11 degrees C for the Holocene and LGM, respectively. The data for the LGM suggest that the maximum temperature was lower, whilst minimum temperature remained approximately constant. The rather minor variability in lowest summer temperatures during the LGM suggests roughly constant summer monsoon intensity, while upwelling-induced productivity was lowered.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1337-1349
Number of pages	13
Journal	Climate of the Past
Volume	7
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011
Publication status	Published - 2011

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

NORTHERN INDIAN-OCEAN
ASIAN MONSOON SYSTEM
PLANKTONIC-FORAMINIFERA
MILLENNIAL-SCALE
CLIMATE-CHANGE
CALIBRATION
OXYGEN
MG/CA
VARIABILITY
DELTA-O-18

Access to Document

10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011

PDF Available Here
This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly cited.
Final published version, 1.82 MB

Cite this

@article{ea591b9743984e41b060c0c78f57a4bf,

title = "Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years",

abstract = "The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera tests is one of the widest used geochemical tools to reconstruct past changes of physical parameters of the upper ocean. It is common practice to analyze multiple individuals from a mono-specific population and assume that the outcome reflects a mean value of the environmental conditions during calcification of the analyzed individuals. Here we present the oxygen isotope composition of individual specimens of the surface-dwelling species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides from sediment cores in the Western Arabian Sea off Somalia, inferred as indicators of past seasonal ranges in temperature. Combining the delta O-18 measurements of individual specimens to obtain temperature ranges with Mg/Ca based mean calcification temperatures allows us to reconstruct temperature extrema. Our results indicate that over the past 20 kyr the seasonal temperature range has fluctuated from its present value of 16 degrees C to mean values of 13 degrees C and 11 degrees C for the Holocene and LGM, respectively. The data for the LGM suggest that the maximum temperature was lower, whilst minimum temperature remained approximately constant. The rather minor variability in lowest summer temperatures during the LGM suggests roughly constant summer monsoon intensity, while upwelling-induced productivity was lowered.",

keywords = "NORTHERN INDIAN-OCEAN, ASIAN MONSOON SYSTEM, PLANKTONIC-FORAMINIFERA, MILLENNIAL-SCALE, CLIMATE-CHANGE, CALIBRATION, OXYGEN, MG/CA, VARIABILITY, DELTA-O-18",

author = "Ganssen, {G. M.} and Peeters, {F. J. C.} and B. Metcalfe and P. Anand and Simon Jung and D. Kroon and Brummer, {G-J A.}",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

pages = "1337--1349",

journal = "Climate of the Past",

issn = "1814-9324",

publisher = "European Geosciences Union",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years

AU - Ganssen, G. M.

AU - Peeters, F. J. C.

AU - Metcalfe, B.

AU - Anand, P.

AU - Jung, Simon

AU - Kroon, D.

AU - Brummer, G-J A.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera tests is one of the widest used geochemical tools to reconstruct past changes of physical parameters of the upper ocean. It is common practice to analyze multiple individuals from a mono-specific population and assume that the outcome reflects a mean value of the environmental conditions during calcification of the analyzed individuals. Here we present the oxygen isotope composition of individual specimens of the surface-dwelling species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides from sediment cores in the Western Arabian Sea off Somalia, inferred as indicators of past seasonal ranges in temperature. Combining the delta O-18 measurements of individual specimens to obtain temperature ranges with Mg/Ca based mean calcification temperatures allows us to reconstruct temperature extrema. Our results indicate that over the past 20 kyr the seasonal temperature range has fluctuated from its present value of 16 degrees C to mean values of 13 degrees C and 11 degrees C for the Holocene and LGM, respectively. The data for the LGM suggest that the maximum temperature was lower, whilst minimum temperature remained approximately constant. The rather minor variability in lowest summer temperatures during the LGM suggests roughly constant summer monsoon intensity, while upwelling-induced productivity was lowered.

AB - The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera tests is one of the widest used geochemical tools to reconstruct past changes of physical parameters of the upper ocean. It is common practice to analyze multiple individuals from a mono-specific population and assume that the outcome reflects a mean value of the environmental conditions during calcification of the analyzed individuals. Here we present the oxygen isotope composition of individual specimens of the surface-dwelling species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides from sediment cores in the Western Arabian Sea off Somalia, inferred as indicators of past seasonal ranges in temperature. Combining the delta O-18 measurements of individual specimens to obtain temperature ranges with Mg/Ca based mean calcification temperatures allows us to reconstruct temperature extrema. Our results indicate that over the past 20 kyr the seasonal temperature range has fluctuated from its present value of 16 degrees C to mean values of 13 degrees C and 11 degrees C for the Holocene and LGM, respectively. The data for the LGM suggest that the maximum temperature was lower, whilst minimum temperature remained approximately constant. The rather minor variability in lowest summer temperatures during the LGM suggests roughly constant summer monsoon intensity, while upwelling-induced productivity was lowered.

KW - NORTHERN INDIAN-OCEAN

KW - ASIAN MONSOON SYSTEM

KW - PLANKTONIC-FORAMINIFERA

KW - MILLENNIAL-SCALE

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - CALIBRATION

KW - OXYGEN

KW - MG/CA

KW - VARIABILITY

KW - DELTA-O-18

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=83155164610&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011

DO - 10.5194/cp-7-1337-2011

M3 - Article

SN - 1814-9324

VL - 7

SP - 1337

EP - 1349

JO - Climate of the Past

JF - Climate of the Past

IS - 4

ER -

Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this