Previous studies on surface temperature reconstructions for the last 2000 years (2 k) revealed a long-term cooling trend for the last millennium in comparison to the previous millennium. However, knowledge on the decadal- to centennial-scale variability in sea surface temperature and the underlying governing mechanisms throughout the period is limited. We reconstructed high-resolution continuous sea surface temperature changes over the last 2 k in the northwest Pacific margin based on the alkenone unsaturation index. Our alkenone temperature record revealed enhanced and more rapidly changing climate variability during the last millennium (approximately 1200–1850 Common Era) than during the previous millennium. Cold and hot extremes also occurred more frequently during the last millennium. The enhanced and rapidly changing climate variability appears to be associated with frequent volcanic eruptions and grand solar minima. The reconstructed surface temperature variability tends to be associated with variations in the East Asia summer monsoon and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, implying that these variations are also enhanced in the last millennium than in the previous millennium.

先前对过去 2000 年 (2 k) 的地表温度重建的研究揭示了与前一千年相比，上一千年的长期冷却趋势。然而，关于海面温度十年至百年尺度的变化及其整个时期的潜在控制机制的知识是有限的。我们基于烯酮不饱和指数重建了西北太平洋边缘过去 2 k 的高分辨率连续海面温度变化。我们的烯酮温度记录显示，上一千年（大约 1200-1850 年）与上一千年相比，气候变异性增强且变化更快。在过去的千年里，极端寒冷和炎热的天气也更频繁地发生。气候变率的增强和快速变化似乎与频繁的火山爆发和大太阳极小期有关。重建的地表温度变化往往与东亚夏季风和太平洋年代际涛动的变化有关，这意味着这些变化在上一千年也比前一千年有所增强。