A marine record of Patagonian ice sheet changes over the past 140,000 years.

Terrestrial glacial records from the Patagonian Andes and New Zealand Alps document quasi-synchronous Southern Hemisphere-wide glacier advances during the late Quaternary. However, these records are inherently incomplete. Here, we provide a continuous marine record of western-central Patagonian ice sheet (PIS) extent over a complete glacial-interglacial cycle back into the penultimate glacial (~140 ka).

Ocean temperature drove changes in the mesopelagic fish community at the edge of the Pacific Warm Pool over the past 460,000 years.

Field observations and theoretical modeling suggest that ongoing anthropogenic ocean warming will lead to marine ecosystem degradation. Mesopelagic fish are a fundamental component of the pelagic ecosystem, and their role in linking the surface- and deep-ocean ecosystems is essential for the biological carbon pump. However, their response to a warmer ocean is unconstrained because of data scarcity.

Changing surface ocean circulation caused the local demise of echinoid Scaphechinus mirabilis in Taiwan during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.

Abundant fossil specimens of Scaphechinus mirabilis, now occurring mostly in temperate waters, have been found in the Toukoshan Formation (Pleistocene) in Miaoli County, Taiwan. Environmental changes leading to its extirpation (local extinction) have thus far been elusive. Here, we reconstruct past environmental and oceanic conditions off northwest Taiwan by analyzing clumped isotopes, as well as stable oxygen isotopes, of well-preserved fossil echinoid tests collected from the Toukoshan Formation.

Deciphering the Variability in Mg/Ca and Stable Oxygen Isotopes of Individual Foraminifera.

Foraminifera are commonly used in paleoclimate reconstructions as they occur throughout the world's oceans and are often abundantly preserved in the sediments. Traditionally, foraminifera-based proxies like δO and Mg/Ca are analyzed on pooled specimens of a single species. Analysis of single specimens of foraminifera allows reconstructing climate variability on timescales related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation or seasonality.

Corrigendum: Global patterns of declining temperature variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nature25454.

Global patterns of declining temperature variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene.

Changes in climate variability are as important for society to address as are changes in mean climate. Contrasting temperature variability during the Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene can provide insights into the relationship between the mean state of the climate and its variability. However, although glacial-interglacial changes in variability have been quantified for Greenland, a global view remains elusive.