The last interglacial was a warm period that may provide insights into future climates. Here, we compile and analyse stable carbon isotope data from the ocean during the last interglacial and compare it to the Holocene. The data show that Atlantic Ocean circulation was similar during the last interglacial and the Holocene. We also establish a difference in the mean oceanic carbon isotopic ratio between these periods, which was most likely caused by burial and weathering carbon fluxes.

This work documents major oceanographic changes that occurred in the N. Atlantic from 812 to 530 ka and were related to the mid-Pleistocene transition. Since ~ 650 ka, glacials were more prolonged and intense than before. Larger ice sheets may have worked as a positive feedback mechanism to prolong the duration of glacials. We explore the connection between the change in the N. Atlantic oceanography and the enhanced ice-sheet growth, which contributed to the change of cyclicity in climate.

Eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) thermocline dynamics during the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (iNHG; ~ 2.5 Ma) currently remain unclear. In light of this uncertainty, we generated geochemical, faunal and sedimentological data for EEP Site 849 (~ 2.75–2.4 Ma). We recorded a thermocline depth change shortly before the final phase of the iNHG, which supports the hypothesis that tropical thermocline shoaling may have contributed to substantial Northern Hemisphere ice growth.

We investigated a sediment core from the Maldives to unravel the interaction between equatorial climate and ocean variability of the past 200 000 years. The sedimentological, geochemical and foraminiferal data records reveal enhanced dust, which was transported by intensified winter monsoon winds during glacial conditions. Precessional fluctuations of bottom water oxygen suggests an expansion of the Arabian Sea OMZ and a varying inflow of Antarctic Intermediate Water.

Continuous, highly abundant and well-preserved fossil ostracodes were studied from radiocarbon-dated sediment cores collected on the Lomonosov Ridge (Arctic Ocean) that indicate varying oceanographic conditions during the last ~50 kyr. Ostracode assemblages from cores taken during the SWERUS-C3 2014 Expedition, Leg 2, reflect paleoenvironmental changes during glacial, deglacial, and interglacial transitions, including changes in sea-ice cover and Atlantic Water inflow into the Eurasian Basin.

Global sea level rise during the last deglacial flooded the Siberian continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Sediment cores, radiocarbon dating, and microfossils show that the regional sea level in the Arctic rose rapidly from about 12 500 to 10 700 years ago. Regional sea level history on the Siberian shelf differs from the global deglacial sea level rise perhaps due to regional vertical adjustment resulting from the growth and decay of ice sheets.

This study is devoted to reconstructing Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) variability and the interplay between the Mediterranean and North Atlantic climate systems during the Early Pleistocene. We find indication that the increasing production of MOW aligns with the intensification of the North Atlantic overturning circulation, highlighting the potential of MOW to modulate the North Atlantic salt budget. Our results are based on new stable isotope and grain-size data from IODP 339 Site U1389.

This paper examines the oxygen isotope data in several deep-sea cores. The question addressed is whether those data support an inference that the abyssal ocean in the Last Glacial Maximum period was significantly colder than it is today. Along with a separate analysis of salinity data in the same cores, it is concluded that a cold, saline deep ocean is consistent with the available data but so is an abyss much more like that found today. LGM model testers should beware.

This manuscript presents new Mg/Ca and previously published δ18O measurements of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral for MIS 31-19, from a sediment core from the subpolar North Atlantic. The mechanism proposed here involves northward subsurface transport of warm and salty subtropical waters during periods of weaker AMOC, leading to ice-sheet instability and IRD discharge. This is the first time that these rapid climate oscillations are described for the early Pleistocene.

New diatom isotope records are presented alongside existing geochemical and isotope records to document changes in the photic zone, including nutrient supply and the efficiency of the soft-tissue biological pump, between MIS 4 and MIS 5e in the subarctic north-west Pacific Ocean. The results provide evidence for temporal changes in the strength and efficiency of the regional soft-tissue biological pump, altering the ratio of regenerated to preformed nutrients in the water.