The Mid‐Pliocene Warm Period (MPWP, 2.9 to 3.3 Ma), along with older Pliocene (3.2 to 5.3 Ma) records, offers potential past analogues for our 400‐ppmv world. The coastal geology of western and southern coasts of the Republic of South Africa expose an abundance of marine deposits of Pliocene and Pleistocene age. In this study, we report differential GPS elevations, detailed stratigraphic descriptions

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A ~152–220 year lag between abrupt Greenland warming and maximum Antarctic warming characterizes past glacial Dansgaard–Oeschger events. In a modeling study, we investigate how the cross‐equatorial oceanic heat transport (COHT) might drive this phasing during an abrupt Northern Hemisphere (NH) warming. We use the MITgcm in an idealized continental configuration with two ocean basins, one wider, one

The evolution of intermediate circulation in the northern Indian Ocean since the last deglaciation has been reconstructed from two marine cores located at intermediate depths off the southern tip of India (MD77‐191) and in the northern Bay of Bengal (BoB) (MD77‐176). Benthic foraminiferal δ13C, seawater carbonate ion concentration ([CO32‐]) estimated from the Sr/Ca, and paleo‐temperature reconstructed

Changes in ocean gateway configuration can induce basin‐scale rearrangements in ocean current characteristics. However, there is large uncertainty in the relative timing of the Oligocene/Miocene subsidence histories of the Greenland‐Scotland Ridge (GSR) and the Fram Strait (FS). By using a climate model we investigate the temperature and salinity changes in response to the subsidence of these two key

Key features of late Neogene climate remain uncertain due to conflicting records derived from different sea surface temperature (SST) proxies. To understand scenarios in which proxy‐derived temperature estimates can be used interchangeably or are instead measuring different aspects of the same system, it is necessary to explore both the consistencies and differences between specific paleothermometers

To improve future predictions of anthropogenic climate change, a better understanding of the relationship between global temperature and atmospheric concentrations of CO2 (pCO2), or climate sensitivity, is urgently required. Analyzing proxy data from climate change episodes in the past is necessary to achieve this goal, with certain geologic periods, such as the mid Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO),

Negative excursions in the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) at Atlantic intermediate to mid‐depths are common features of millennial‐scale events named Heinrich Stadials (HS). The mechanisms behind these excursions are not yet fully understood, but most hypotheses agree on the central role played by the weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Marine records registering

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is thought to be relatively vigorous and stable during Interglacial periods on multimillennial (equilibrium) timescales. However, recent proxy (δ13C benthic) reconstructions suggest that higher frequency variability in deep water circulation may have been common during some interglacial periods, including the Last Interglacial (LIG, 130–115 ka)

Reconstructions of key climate parameters prior to anthropogenic influences serve to constrain decadal to multicentury natural climate variability. In the western Pacific region, relatively few reconstructions exist north of the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP), a region critical to global climate. In this study, we collected a coral core from Houbihu, southern Taiwan, and generated a 225‐year reconstruction

Ice core data have shown that atmospheric CO2 concentrations during interglacials were lower before the Mid‐Brunhes Event (MBE, ~430 ka), than after the MBE by around 30 ppm. To explain such a difference, it has been hypothesized that increased bottom water formation around Antarctica or reduced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could have led to greater oceanic carbon storage before

The mineralogical and geochemical compositions of three sediment cores from the northwestern Greenland continental margin (AMD14‐204 and AMD14‐210) and Kane Basin (AMD14‐Kane2B) were investigated using quantitative X‐ray diffraction and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence in order to document the impact of ice‐ocean interactions on the sediment provenance and transport pathways during the Holocene

Modern observations indicate that variations in marine phytoplankton stoichiometry correlate with the boundaries of major surface waters. For example, phytoplankton in the oligotrophic subtropical gyres typically have much higher C:N:P ratios (i.e., higher C:P and higher N:P ratios) than those in eutrophic upwelling regions and polar regions. Such a spatial pattern points to nutrient availability as

The Mid Pleistocene Transition (MPT, ~641‐920 ka) represents a period of the Quaternary climate when, in the absence of substantial changes in orbital forcing, the climate progressively shifted to the 100 ka asymmetrical glacial‐interglacial cyclicity characterizing the current climate. The causes of this change remain still uncertain but several lines of evidence suggested the carbon storage of the

A controversial aspect of Pliocene (5.3‐2.6 Ma) climate is whether El Niño‐like (El Padre) conditions, characterized by a reduced trans‐equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) gradient, prevailed across the Pacific. Evidence for El Padre is chiefly based on reconstructions of sea‐surface conditions derived from the oxygen isotope (δ18O) and Mg/Ca compositions of shells belonging to the planktic foraminifer

Astrochronology depends on the faithful record of insolation forcing in climatic proxies, including the carbon isotope composition measured on bulk carbonates (δ13Ccarb). In marginal basins close to carbonate platforms, the source of carbonate is varied, which can impact the record of the astronomical cycles in the δ13Ccarb signal. We compare here the δ13Ccarb values together with detrital and weathering

In the late Miocene, grasslands spread across the forested floodplains of the Himalayan foreland, but the causes of the ecological transition are still debated. Recent seafloor drilling by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) provides an opportunity to study the transition across a larger region as archived in the Indus sub‐marine fan. We present a multi‐proxy study of past vegetation change

Improved multibeam swath bathymetry allows targeted coring of glacial landforms aiming at improving our understanding of sedimentary facies that developed in glacimarine settings during the post‐Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) deglaciation. Coupled with radiocarbon dates, we explore foraminiferal records from 18 sediment cores from the western Ross Sea largely from sites near paleo–grounding lines. We investigate

Combining magnetostratigraphic and carbon isotopic data for the late Miocene can provide a temporal framework for an isotopic shift first documented in soil carbonate nodules of northern Pakistan. The shift has been interpreted as a change in vegetation from trees and shrubs (using the C3 photosynthetic pathway) to grassland (using the C4 pathway). The cause of the event has been hotly debated and

The Pliocene (5.3‐2.6 Ma), an epoch with periods of climatic warmth and possible analogue for the future, has been well‐characterized globally by marine geochemical proxies. However, far less is known about Pliocene warmth at continental high latitudes, where the greatest impacts of warming are expected. This study seeks to better characterise the Pliocene climate of central Alaska and Yukon based

The Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ca. 56 Ma) is marked by a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and increased global temperatures. The CIE is thought to result from the release of 13C‐depleted carbon, although the source(s) of carbon and triggers for its release, its rate of release, and the mechanisms by which the Earth system recovered are all debated. Many of the proposed mechanisms

Earth's hydrological cycle was profoundly perturbed by massive carbon emissions during an ancient (56 Ma) global warming event referred to as the Paleocene‐Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). One approach to gaining valuable insight into the response of the hydrological cycle is to construct sea‐surface salinity (SSS) records that can be used to gauge changes in the rates of evaporation and precipitation

Sea surface temperature (SST) is used to infer past changes in the state of the climate system. Here we use a combination of newly generated and published organic paleothermometer records, together with novel high‐resolution benthic foraminiferal δ18O stratigraphy, from four sites in the midlatitude North Atlantic (41–58°N) to reconstruct the long‐term evolution of the latitudinal SST gradient during

The intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (iNHG) and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau have been argued to be among the main drivers of climate change in midlatitude Central Asia during the Pliocene/Pleistocene. While most proxy records that support this hypothesis are from regions outside the Tibetan Plateau (such as from the Chinese Loess Plateau), detailed paleoclimatic information for the

The Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) constitutes an important component within the global climate system by providing an enormous amount of heat and moisture to the global atmosphere. Nevertheless, past variability of oceanography and climate across the WPWP is still debated. Here, we compile newly generated and published surface and thermocline temperature and seawater stable oxygen isotope (δ18OSW)

We reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 608 (42.836°N, 23.087°), north of the Azores Front, and Ocean Drilling Program Site 982 (57.516°N, 15.866°), under the North Atlantic Current, in order to track Miocene (23.1–5.3 Ma) development of North Atlantic surface waters. Mean annual SSTs from TEX86 and UK′37 proxy estimates at both sites were 10–15 °C higher than

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) was a gradual warming event and carbon cycle perturbation that occurred between 40.5 and 40.1 Ma. A number of characteristics, including greater‐than‐expected deep‐sea carbonate dissolution, a lack of globally‐coherent negative δ13C excursion in marine carbonates, a duration longer than the characteristic timescale of carbon‐cycle recovery, and the absence

During the last glacial period, climate conditions in the North Atlantic region were determined by the alternation of relatively warm interstadials and relatively cool stadials, with superimposed rapid warming (Dansgaard-Oeschger) and cooling (Heinrich) events. So far little is known about the impact of these rapid climate shifts on the seasonal variations in sea surface temperature (SST) within the

Producing independent and accurate chronologies for marine sediments is a prerequisite to understand the sequence of millennial-scale events and reveal potential temporal offsets between marine and continental records, or between different marine records, possibly from different regions. The last 40 ky is a generally well-constrained period since radiocarbon (14C) can be used as an absolute dating

Our understanding of the long-term evolution of the Earth system is based on the assumption that terrestrial weathering rates should respond to, and hence help regulate, atmospheric CO2 and climate. Increased terrestrial weathering requires increased carbonate accumulation in marine sediments, which in turn is expected to result in a long-term deepening of the carbonate compensation depth (CCD). Here

Foraminifera are commonly used in paleoclimate reconstructions as they occur throughout the world's oceans and are often abundantly preserved in the sediments. Traditionally, foraminifera-based proxies like δ18O and Mg/Ca are analyzed on pooled specimens of a single species. Analysis of single specimens of foraminifera allows reconstructing climate variability on timescales related to El Niño-Southern

Current climate change may induce positive carbon cycle feedbacks that amplify anthropogenic warming on time scales of centuries to millennia. Similar feedbacks might have been active during a phase of carbon cycle perturbation and global warming, termed the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 56 million years ago). The PETM may help constrain these feedbacks and their sensitivity to warming. We

Pelagic sediments from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean contain geographically extensive Oligocene ooze and chalk layers that consist almost entirely of the calcareous nannofossil Braarudosphaera. Poor recovery and the lack of precise dating of these horizons in previous studies has limited the understanding of the number of acmes, their timing and durations, and therefore their likely cause. Here

Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) climate instabilities that took place during Marine Isotope Stage 3 are connected to changes in ocean circulation patterns and sea ice cover. Here we explore in detail the configuration of the water column of the Denmark Strait during D-O events 8-5. How the ocean currents and water masses within the Denmark Strait region responded and were connected to the North Atlantic are

This study identifies temporal biases in the radiocarbon ages of the planktonic foraminifera species Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber (white) in a sediment core from the SW Iberian margin (so-called Shackleton site). Leaching of the outer shell and measurement of the radiocarbon content of both the leachate and leached sample enabled us to identify surface contamination of the tests

The Arctic cryosphere is changing and making a significant contribution to sea level rise. The Late Pliocene had similar CO2 levels to the present and a warming comparable to model predictions for the end of this century. However, the state of the Arctic cryosphere during the Pliocene remains poorly constrained. For the first time we combine outputs from a climate model with a thermodynamic iceberg