Late Pleistocene paleoclimatology of the central equatorial Pacific: Sea surface response to the southeast Trade Winds

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Abstract
Proxy indicators of sea surface temperature and equatorial divergence based on radiolarian assemblage data, and of trade wind intensity based on eolian grain size data show similar aspects of variability during the late Pleistocene: All indicators fluctuate at higher frequencies than the 100,000‐year glacial‐interglacial cycle, display reduced amplitude variations since 300,000 years ago, exhibit a change in the record character at about 300,000 years ago (the mid‐Brunhes climatic event), and have higher amplitude variations in sediments 300,000–850,000 years old. Time series analyses were conducted to determine the spectral character of each record (δ18O of planktonic foraminifer, sea surface temperature values, equatorial divergence indicators, and wind intensity indicators) and to quantify interrecord coherence and phase relationships. The record was divided at the 300,000‐year clear change in climatic variability (nonstationarity). The δ18O‐based time scale is better lower in the core so our spectral analyses concentrated on the interval from 402,000–774,000 years. The δ18O spectra show 100,000‐ and 41,000‐year power in the younger portion, 0–300,000 years, and 100,000‐, 41,000‐ and 23,000‐year power in the older interval, all highly coherent and in phase with the SPECMAP average stacked isotope record. Unlike the isotope record the dominant period in both the eolian grain size and equatorial divergence indicators is 31,000 years. This period is also important in the sea surface temperature signal where the dominant spectral peak is 100,000 years. The 31,000‐year spectral component is coherent and in phase between the eolian and divergence records, confirming the link between atmospheric and ocean surface circulation for the first time in the paleoclimate record. Since the 31,000‐year power appears in independent data sets within this core and also appears in other equatorial records [J. Imbrie personal communication, 1987], we assume it to be real and representative of both a nonlinear response to orbital forcing, possibly a combination of orbital tilt and eccentricity, and some resonance phenomenon required to amplify the response at this period so that it appears as a dominant frequency component. The mid‐Brunhes climatic event is an important aspect of these records, but its cause remains unknown.