Late Pleistocene South Atlantic

Abstract

The South Atlantic and the Southern Ocean play an important role in the global thermohaline circulation. Paleoceanographic records from South Atlantic sediments indicate that many of the present-day factors, which are critical for the circulation in the South Atlantic, have been affected by late Pleistocene climatic changes. These include the distribution of sea-surface temperature, upper ocean stratification, freshwater input, sea ice, coastal upwelling, and productivity as well as the intermediate and deep-water circulation. The temporal evolution of late Pleistocene paleoceanographic proxy records suggest that the South Atlantic is an active component of climate change at orbital and millennial timescales.