Planktic foraminiferal changes in the western Mediterranean Anthropocene
The increase in anthropogenic induced warming over the last two centuries is impacting marine environment. Planktic foraminifera are a globally distributed calcifying marine zooplankton responding sensitively to changes in sea surface temperatures and interacting with the food web structure. Here, we study two high resolution multicore records from two western Mediterranean Sea regions (Alboran and Balearic basins), areas highly affected by both natural climate change and anthropogenic warming. Cores cover the time interval from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to present. Reconstructed sea surface temperatures are in good agreement with other results, tracing temperature changes through the Co…
Mediterranean circulation perturbations over the last five centuries: Relevance to past Eastern Mediterranean Transient-type events
The Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) occurred in the Aegean Sea from 1988 to 1995 and is the most significant intermediate-to-deep Mediterranean overturning perturbation reported by instrumental records. The EMT was likely caused by accumulation of high salinity waters in the Levantine and enhanced heat loss in the Aegean Sea, coupled with surface water freshening in the Sicily Channel. It is still unknown whether similar transients occurred in the past and, if so, what their forcing processes were. In this study, sediments from the Sicily Channel document surface water freshening (SCFR) at 1910 ± 12, 1812 ± 18, 1725 ± 25 and 1580 ± 30 CE. A regional ocean hindcast links SCFR to enhanc…
Primary productivity variability on the Atlantic Iberian Margin over the last 70,000 years: Evidence from coccolithophores and fossil organic compounds
[1] This study analyzes coccolithophore abundance fluctuations (e.g., Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa specimens, and Florisphaera profunda) in core MD01-2444 sediment strata retrieved at the Iberian Margin, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Coccolithophores are calcareous nannofossils, a major component of the oceanic phytoplankton, which provide information about past ecological and climatological variability. Results are supported by data on fossil organic compounds (sea surface temperatures, alkenones, and n-hexacosan-1-ol index) and geochemical analyses (benthic δ13Ccc and planktonic δ18Occ isotopes). Three scenarios are taken into account for this location at centennial-scale resolution ove…
Speleothems from the Middle East: An Example of Water Limited Environments in the SISAL Database
The Middle East (ME) spans the transition between a temperate Mediterranean climate in the Levant to hyper-arid sub-tropical deserts in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (AP), with the complex alpine topography in the northeast feeding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers which support life in the Southeastern Fertile Crescent (FC). Climate projections predict severe drying in several parts of the ME in response to global warming, making it important to understand the controls of hydro-climate perturbations in the region. Here we discuss 23 ME speleothem stable oxygen isotope (δ18Occ) records from 16 sites from the SISAL_v1 database (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis database), …