Abstract
Global mean temperature is thought to have exceeded that of today during the last interglacial episode (LIG, ~ 125,000 yrs b.p.) but robust paleoclimate data are still rare in low latitudes. Occurrence data of tropical reef corals may provide new proxies of low latitude sea-surface temperatures. Using modern reef coral distributions we developed a geographically explicit model of sea surface temperatures. Applying this model to coral occurrence data of the LIG provides a latitudinal U-shaped pattern of temperature anomalies with cooler than modern temperatures around the equator and warmer subtropical climes. Our results agree with previously published estimates of LIG temperatures and suggest a poleward broadening of the habitable zone for reef corals during the LIG.
Highlights
Global mean temperature is thought to have exceeded that of today during the last interglacial episode (LIG, ~ 125,000 yrs b.p.) but robust paleoclimate data are still rare in low latitudes
Results are virtually independent of taxonomic level and the method to derive transfer functions (ANN or factor analysis) (Fig. S2)
It is documented for the northern hemisphere, that seasonality during the Last Interglacial (LIG) underwent a major evolution, from higher anomalies during the peak LIG33 to near modern values in the late LIG31
Summary
Global mean temperature is thought to have exceeded that of today during the last interglacial episode (LIG, ~ 125,000 yrs b.p.) but robust paleoclimate data are still rare in low latitudes. Occurrence data of tropical reef corals may provide new proxies of low latitude sea-surface temperatures. Using modern reef coral distributions we developed a geographically explicit model of sea surface temperatures. Applying this model to coral occurrence data of the LIG provides a latitudinal U-shaped pattern of temperature anomalies with cooler than modern temperatures around the equator and warmer subtropical climes. We apply the micropaleontological toolkit for paleoclimate reconstructions to reef corals in order to constrain tropical to subtropical temperatures of the Last Interglacial (LIG) episode We use the geographic distribution of reef coral assemblages in 1° geographic grid cells to derive models of modern mean sea-surface temperature (SST) and seasonal temperature variability (STV). We compare the modeled latitudinal temperature gradients of the LIG with published proxy data and independently developed climate models
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