Surface and deep ocean variability in the northern Sargasso Sea during marine isotope stage 3

New geochemical proxy data from Bermuda Rise piston cores reveal ocean and climate conditions in the northern Sargasso Sea during marine isotope stage 3. Using delta(18)O on the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber, w e can correlate explicitly with every stadial/interstadial change in Greenl and ice between similar to 32 and 58 ka. These data suggest repetitive chan ges of similar to 4 degrees C in the annual average sea surface temperature (SST), with maximum cooling comparable to or greater than SST during glaci al maximum conditions. The extent of SST depression is about the same for t ypical stadial events and for Heinrich events a and 5 which wp have identif ied nn thp Bermuda Rise hv traces nf ice rafting Benthic foraminiferal delt a(13)C decreases during every stadial event, consistent with reduced produc tion of the deepest component of North Atlantic Deep Water and shoaling of its interface with Antarctic Bottom Water. This interpretation is supported by benthic Cd/Ca data from the climate cycle associated with interstadial 8.