The relatively stable Holocene climate was preceded by a pronounced event of abrupt warming in the Northern Hemisphere, the termination of the Younger Dryas (YD) cold period^1,2. Although this transition has been intensively studied, its imprint on low-latitude ocean temperature is still controversial and its effects on sub-annual to decadal climate variability remain poorly understood^1,3,4. Sea surface temperature (SST) variability at these timescales in the tropical Atlantic is expected to intensify under current and future global warming and has considerable consequences for environmental conditions in Africa and South America, and for tropical Pacific climate^5,6,7,8. Here we present a 100-µm-resolution record obtained by mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) of long-chain alkenones in sediments from the Cariaco Basin^9,10,11 and find that annually averaged SST remained stable during the transition into the Holocene. However, seasonality increased more than twofold and approached modern values of 1.6 °C, probably driven by the position and/or annual range of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). We further observe that interannual variability intensified during the early Holocene. Our results demonstrate that sub-decadal-scale SST variability in the tropical Atlantic is sensitive to abrupt changes in climate background, such as those witnessed during the most recent glacial to interglacial transition.

在相对稳定的全新世气候之前，北半球发生了明显的突然变暖事件，即新仙女木 (YD) 寒冷期的结束^1,2。尽管已经对这种转变进行了深入研究，但它对低纬度海洋温度的影响仍然存在争议，而且它对次年到年代际气候变率的影响仍知之甚少^1,3,4。在当前和未来全球变暖的情况下，热带大西洋这些时间尺度的海面温度 (SST) 变化预计会加剧，并对非洲和南美洲的环境条件以及热带太平洋气候产生相当大的影响^5,6,7,8. 在这里，我们展示了通过 Cariaco 盆地^9,10,11沉积物中长链烯酮的质谱成像 (MSI) 获得的 100 µm 分辨率记录，并发现在向全新世过渡期间年平均 SST 保持稳定。然而，季节性增加了两倍多并接近 1.6 °C 的现代值，这可能是由热带辐合带 (ITCZ) 的位置和/或年度范围驱动的。我们进一步观察到，在全新世早期，年际变化加剧。我们的研究结果表明，热带大西洋亚年代际尺度的 SST 变率对气候背景的突然变化很敏感，例如在最近的冰期到间冰期过渡期间目睹的那些变化。