Spatiotemporal variability in the δ¹⁸O-salinity relationship of seawater across the tropical Pacific Ocean.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between salinity and the stable oxygen isotope ratio of seawater (δ¹⁸O_sw) is of utmost importance to the quantitative reconstruction of past changes in salinity from δ¹⁸O values of marine carbonates. This relationship is often considered to be uniform across water masses, but the constancy of the δ¹⁸O_sw-salinity relationship across space and time remains uncertain, as δ¹⁸O_sw responds to varying atmospheric vapor sources and pathways, while salinity does not. Here we present new δ¹⁸O_sw-salinity data from sites spanning the tropical Pacific Ocean. New data from Palau, Papua New Guinea, Kiritimati, and Galápagos show slopes ranging from 0.09 ‰/psu in the Galápagos to 0.32‰/psu i

SUBMITTER: Conroy JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6999658 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature