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N. G. Pisias

Publications and source records attributed to N. G. Pisias.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2010

Foraminiferal faunal estimates of paleotemperature: Circumventing the no-analog problem yields cool ice age tropics

The sensitivity of the tropics to climate change, particularly the amplitude of glacial-to-interglacial changes in sea surface temperature (SST), is one of the great controversies in paleoclimatology. Here we reassess faunal estimates of ice age SSTs, focusing on the problem of no-analog planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the equatorial oceans that confounds both classical transfer function and modern analog methods. A new calibration strategy developed here, which uses past variability of species to define robust faunal assemblages, solves the no-analog problem and reveals ice age cooling of 5° to 6°C in the equatorial current systems of the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Classical transfer functions underestimated temperature changes in some areas of the tropical oceans because core-top assemblages misrepresented the ice age faunal assemblages. Our finding is consistent with some geochemical estimates and model predictions of greater ice age cooling in the tropics than was inferred by Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction ( CLIMAP ) [1981] and thus may help to resolve a long-standing controversy. Our new foraminiferal transfer function suggests that such cooling was limited to the equatorial current systems, however, and supports CLIMAP's inference of stability of the subtropical gyre centers.

Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology↗
USGS2006

Radiolaria and pollen records from 0 to 50 ka at ODP Site 1233: Continental and marine climate records from the Southeast Pacific

Site 1233 drilled during Leg 202 of the Ocean Drilling Program provides a detailed record of marine and continental climate change in the Southeast Pacific and South American continent. Splits from over 500 samples taken at 20 cm intervals for quantitative analysis of radiolarian and pollen populations yield a temporal resolution of 200-400 years. In each sample, 39 pollen taxa and 40 radiolarian species and genera were evaluated. Age control is provided by 25 AMS 14C dates [Lamy, F., Kaiser, J., Ninnemann, U., Hebbeln, D., Arz, H.W., Stoner, J., 2004. Science 304, 1959-1962]. Multivariate statistical analyses of these data allow us to conclude the following: (1) During the past 50 ka, the region of the central Chile coast is not directly influenced by polar water from the Antarctic region. (2) Changes in ocean conditions off central Chile during this time interval primarily reflect north-south shifts in the position of the South Pacific transition zone. (3) Changes in Chilean vegetation reflect comparable latitudinal shifts in precipitation and the position of the southern westerlies. (4) The first canonical variate of radiolarian and pollen records extracted from Site 1233 are remarkably similar to each other as well as to temperature records from the Antarctic, which suggests that marine and continental climate variability in the region is tightly coupled at periods longer than 3000 years. (5) The phase coupling of these climate records, which lead variations of continental erosion based on iron abundance at the same site, are consistent with a hypothesis that erosion is linked to relatively long (i.e, few thousand years) response times of the Patagonian ice sheet, and thus is not a direct indicator of regional climate. ?? 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quaternary Science Reviews↗
USGS1997

Natural radionuclides and plutonium in sediments from the western Arctic Ocean: Sedimentation rates and pathways of radionuclides

Sediment cores collected during R.V. Polar Sea AOS94 expedition from the Chukchi Shelf to the North Poke were analyzed for several decay-series natural radionuclides and Pu isotopes to study sedimentation rates and pathways of radionuclides in the western Arctic Ocean. The measured sedimentation rates vary by more than three orders of magnitude along the transect, from 210Pb based rates of 200-700 cm kyr-1 over the Chukchi Shelf and 89 cm kyr-1 at the Chukchi Slope to 230Th-based rates of 0.02-0.3 cm kyr-1 at various settings in the deep basin. 230Th(ex) profiles in the central western Arctic Basin are characterized by a cyclic pattern and a pronounced sub-surface maximum superimposed on an overall decrease with depth. Sediment inventories of excess 210Pb and 230Th in the deep basin as a whole cannot account for their in situ production and 2610Pb fall-out. The opposite is true at the slope and shallower waters. We contend that, as with other ocean basins, boundary scavenging also exists in the Arctic Ocean. The broad continental shelves and the slope region may have the potential of removing all or moat of the particle-reactive radionuclides unaccounted for in the deep basin. The Pu isotope data are consistent with the notion of boundary scavenging. Sediment inventories and concentrations of Pu decrease rapidly offshore. Isotopic composition of Pu suggests mixing of fall-out Pu, which decreases with increasing latitudes, and fuels reprocessing Pu derived from the Russian and Atlantic sides of the Arctic Ocean. Although fuel reprocessing Pu has impinged on the Chukchi Slope, its existence over the Chukchi Shelf is not evident and probably overshadowed by fall-out Pu.

Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Ocea↗