Sea-Surface Temperature Estimates for the Tropical Western Pacific during the Last Glaciation and Their Implications for the Pacific Warm Pool

Abstract Twenty deep-sea sediment cores from the western Pacific between 30°N and 30°S provide evidence of sea-surface temperature (SST) changes throughout the tropics and subtropics. Glacial SSTs were estimated using the modern analog technique (MAT) applied to planktonic foraminifers and planktonic foraminiferal δ18O changes. We used δ18O to identify the last glacial maximum. The MAT method differs from the traditional transfer function approach in that it utilizes a global coretop database, and estimates paleotemperature by finding analogs from the modern coretop samples. In addition, the MAT approach appears to be less susceptible than the transfer function technique to biases introduced by carbonate dissolution. Our results indicate that tropical SSTs differed by less than 2°C from present; away from the tropics (30°N and 30°S) SSTs were at least 3°C cooler. Our results differ from those of previous studies in the western Pacific by using a set of well-preserved, high-sedimentation rate cores from shallow regions. The results of this study clearly indicate that a western Pacific warm pool existed during the last glacial maximum (LGM), providing a heat and moisture source for a Walker Circulation cell similar to that of today. We propose that a steeper lapse rate existed during the last glacial maximum and that this can explain at least part of the discrepancy between marine and terrestrial temperature estimates adjacent to New Guinea for the LGM.

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