Combined Coccolith, Foraminiferal, and Biomarker Reconstruction of Paleoceanographic Conditions Over the Past 120 kyr in the Northern North Atlantic (59\textdegreeN, 23\textdegreeW)

We present data for North Atlantic core Biogeochemical Ocean Flux Study (BOFS) 16K (59\textdegreeN, 23\textdegreeW, water depth 2370 m) including coccolith flora, ∂¹⁸O, planktonic foraminiferal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) by FA20 and SIMMAX methods, and alkenone-based U₃₇^K and U₃₇^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 U₃₇^K signal. Assessment of various calibrations of U₃₇^K and U₃₇^K with paleotemperature shows the inappropriateness of a global correlation. We have produced a North Atlantic U₃₇^K calibration on the basis of North Atlantic data alone (U₃₇^K=0.026<i>T</i>+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\textendash36, 58\textendash65, and 100\textendash120 ka when the alkenones indicate somewhat cooler surface waters.