Sea Surface Temperatures Across the Coral Sea Over the Last Glacial‐Interglacial Cycle

Abstract

Sea surface temperature (SST) across the Coral Sea is tightly coupled to the regional and larger‐scale ocean circulation and climate. Continuous records that reflect past changes in Coral Sea SST in high resolution are missing, however. Here, we present Mg/Ca‐ and alkenone‐based SST reconstructions from the northwestern Coral Sea that cover the past 130 kyr. Our SST estimates vary in line with southern hemisphere high latitude climate variability, linked to atmospheric CO2. Combining the newly generated with published records, we find that the SST changes across the Coral Sea show a large spatial heterogeneity during the last glacial‐interglacial cycle. Particularly prior to 60 ka, precession exerts a discernible influence on the meridional SST gradients across the Coral Sea, as well as between the Coral Sea and southern Western Pacific Warm Pool. We posit that these changes are linked to the regional trade winds and the South Pacific subtropical gyre circulation, and/or to changes in the El Niño Southern Oscillation.