Sea surface temperature reconstruction of ODP Site 175-1087

We compare coccolith and UK'37 data from ODP Site 1087 in the south-east Atlantic between 1500 and 500 ka, and show that evolutionary events and changes in species dominance within the coccolithophore populations had little impact on the UK'37 record.

The relative abundances of the C37 and C38 alkenones also closely resembled those found in modern populations, and suggest a similar temperature sensitivity of UK'37 during the early and mid-Pleistocene to that found at present. These results support the application of the UK'37 index to reconstruct sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) throughout the Quaternary. The UK'37 record at ODP Site 1087 contains an SST signal that documents the emergence of the 100-kyr cycles that characterise the late Quaternary ice volume records.