SST phases in the open-ocean and margins of the tropical Pacific; implication on tropical climate dynamics

Abstract

The tropical Pacific exerts a major effect on the global climate system and might have driven large extra-tropical climate change. We present a 320 kyr high resolution U K 37-sea surface temperature (SST) record from core MD052928 (11 • 17.26 S, 148 • 51.60 E, water depth 2250 m) located off southeastern Papua New Guinea (PNG), 5 in the western tropical Pacific. The age model of the core is based on AMS 14 C dating of planktic foraminifers and correlation of benthic to the LR04 stack. The U K 37-SST ranges from 26.5 to 29 • C, showing glacial-interglacial and millennial variations. We assess the phase of the MD052928 U K 37-SST as part of a synthesis of five other SST records from the tropical Pacific at the precession, obliquity, and eccentricity bands.