Subpolar North Atlantic 2000 Year Alkenone SST Reconstruction Sicre, M.-A.; Hall, I.R.; Mignot, J.; Khodri, M.; Ezat, U.; Truong, M.-X.; Eiríksson, J.; Knudsen, K.L.; Jacob, J.; Turon, J.-L.; Jansen, E. Sicre, M.-A. Hall, I.R. Mignot, J. Khodri, M. Ezat, U. Truong, M.-X. Eiríksson, J. Knudsen, K.L. Jacob, J. Turon, J.-L. Jansen, E. Sea Surface Temperature Reconstruction earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|paleoceanography (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,climate reconstructions|paleoceanography,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|paleoceanography (sea surface temperature,alkenone unsaturation index,null,degree Celsius,null,climate reconstructions|paleoceanography,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/reconstructions (RAPiD-21-3K>LATITUDE 57.4515>LONGITUDE -27.9088) (MD99-2275>LATITUDE 66.551>LONGITUDE -17.699) A decadal resolution time series of sea surface temperature (SST) spanning the last two millennia is reconstructed by combining a proxy record from a new sediment sequence with previously published data from core MD99-2275, north of Iceland. The alkenone based SST reconstruction is validated with historic observational data and compared to a new similar temporal resolution reconstruction obtained from sediment core RAPiD21-3K, in the subpolar North Atlantic. The two SST paleorecords show consistent multidecadal scale coolings throughout the interval and similar expressions during the contrasted climatic periods 'colloquially known' as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). In order to further understand the temporal and spatial SST variations and investigate the influence of natural forcings on the observed SST changes during the last millennium, we compare our time series to simulations using the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace IPSLCM4-v2 climate model. This comparison highlights the potential importance of volcanism as a natural forcing driving coherent abrupt cooling events captured in the subpolar North Atlantic records. STUDY NOTES: Decadal resolution time series of sea surface temperature (SST) obtained from alkenone paleothermometry spanning the last two millennia from core MD99-2275 located north of Iceland, in the North Altantic polar front. The current MD99-2275 age model is constructed using eight geochemically identified tephra layers [Knudsen et al., 2009, Table 2], the 137Cs peak of maximum nuclear testing in 1963 A.D. and the top of undisturbed sediment according to 210Pb measurements. The top of the spliced cores at site MD99–2275 is assumed at 2006 ± 1 A.D, and estimation of age model uncertainties for the record has been published [Eiríksson et al., 2011]. Temporal resolution ranges from 2 to 4 years. This reconstruction extends to the present-day the decadal-scale alkenone based SST reconstruction earlier published by Sicre et al. [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 268, 137–142, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.011, 2008a] and Sicre et al. [Quat. Sci. Rev., 27, 2041–2047, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev. 2008.08.009, 2008b] and now includes the 20th century. Overall, this spliced record combines three sediment sequence reconstructions with different coring devices (piston, gravity and box) in a highly variable region thus represents a unique regional reconstruction benchmark. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Sicre, M.-A. Investigator : Hall, I.R. Investigator : Mignot, J. Investigator : Khodri, M. Investigator : Ezat, U. Investigator : Truong, M.-X. Investigator : Eiríksson, J. Investigator : Knudsen, K.L. Investigator : Jacob, J. Investigator : Turon, J.-L. Investigator : Jansen, E. 2011-12-30 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/12359 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.xls https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.xls English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/12359 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/sicre2011/sicre2011.xls Sicre, M.-A., I.R. Hall, J. Mignot, M. Khodri, U. Ezat, M.-X. Truong, J. Eiríksson, and K.-L. Knudsen. 2011. Sea surface temperature variability in the subpolar Atlantic over the last two millennia. Paleoceanography, 26, PA4218, doi:10.1029/2011PA002169. START YEAR: -5 AD * END YEAR: 2001 AD -27.9088 57.4515 -17.699 66.551