DIATOMS

Abstract

In marine geosciences, diatoms are one of the foremost micropaleontological tools available for biostratigraphic, paleoceanographic, and climatic studies. Their high sensitivity to surface ocean conditions makes them invaluable especially for the quantitative reconstructions of SST, sea ice, sea-ice margin, distribution of surface water masses, variability of the surface currents, and ocean– atmosphere interactions. Although quantitative reconstructions are the topical methods, highly valuable environmental data can be extracted from the diatom stratigraphic data as the statistical errors are always minimized in the qualitative data. The diatom research has progressively concentrated on high-resolution studies and reconstructions providing the most useful data for the climate research; the numerical SST reconstructions are routinely archived into the scientific databases (e.g., NOAA) with open access to the scientific community. In extending the record of climate variability beyond the era of instrumental measurements, diatom records help to infer information about the mechanisms, forcing factors, and spatial and temporal ranges of climate variations.