Abstract
Interpretation of the distribution of 31 marine diatom species and two silicoflagellate genera in 28 core tops from the Atlantic and West Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean by Q-mode factor analysis allows definition of three significantly different floral assemblages, one associated with Subantarctic and two with Antarctic waters. These three areas are clearly delineated by prominent oceanographic limits: the Antarctic Convergence and the maximum retreat of sea-ice during the summer season. A set of palaeoecological transfer functions is derived by comparison between the distribution of these associations and surface water hydrological parameters. Using these equations, estimated summer temperatures from core top floral assemblages range from 12°C in the north of the study area to −2.0°C near the southernmost cores. The standard errors of estimate are ±1.1° C for summer temperatures, ±1.5 months/year for sea ice cover, ±0.2 mg-atP/l for sea-surface phosphate concentrations. Numerical tests of these paleoecological equations demonstrate their usefulness to reconstruct the evolution of the surface oceanography of the Austral Ocean at different periods of the last climatic cycle.
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