Combined coccolith, foraminiferal, and biomarker reconstruction of paleoceanographic conditions over the past 120 kyr in the northern North Atlantic (59°N, 23°W)

We present data for North Atlantic core Biogeochemical Ocean Flux Study (BOFS) 16K (59 degrees N, 23 degrees W, water depth 2370 m) including coccolith flora, partial derivative(18)O, planktonic foraminiferal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) by FA20 and SIMMAX methods, and alkenone-based U-37(K) and U-37(K) SSTs. A good correlation exists between the abundances of cold water coccolith species and foraminifera, and a broad correlation exists between coccolith and alkenone abundances except in the Holocene. Reworked Cretaceous coccoliths at the Last Glacial Maximum are coincident with warm deviations of the U-37(K) signal. Assessment of various calibrations of U-37(K) and U-37(K) with paleotemperature shows the inappropriateness of a global correlation. We have produced a North Atlantic U-37(K) calibration on the basis of North Atlantic data alone (U-37(K) =0.026T+0.186), which produces SST data for summer season at 0 m water depth, comparable to the warm season foraminiferal SSTs, except during the intervals 26-36, 58-65, and 100-120 ka when the alkenones indicate somewhat cooler surface waters.