Shifts in the position of the North Equatorial Current and rapid productivity changes in the western Tropical Atlantic during the last glacial

High-resolution, well-dated calcareous dinoflagellate cyst and organic carb on records from a 58 kyr sediment core (M35003-4) located southeast of the island of Grenada show that rapid and pronounced changes in cyst associatio n and accumulation and organic carbon deposition occurred, controlled by (1 ) a significant southward shift in the position of the North Equatorial Cur rent during the last glacial period and the Younger Dryas cold interval and (2) rapid changes in local productivity in marine isotopic stage 3 that ar e associated with variations in Orinoco River nutrient discharge and coasta l upwelling strength. Prominent cyst accumulation peaks representing extrem ely oligotrophic and stratified thermocline: conditions mimic the Greenland ice core and northern Atlantic Dansgaard/Oeschger stadials and Heinrich ev ents. We provide new evidence for a coupled tropical/high-latitude Atlantic climate system during the last glacial period and suggest that changes in the zonality of the low-latitude winds may play an important role in modula ting rapid interhemispheric climate variability.