FEC component of staff time on IODP Bering Sea research cruise and compulsory post-cruise meetings.

Lead Research Organisation: British Geological Survey
Department Name: Climate Change

Abstract

This expedition will obtain sedimentary sequences to study the Pliocene-Pleistocene evolution of millennial- to Milankovitch- scale climatic oscillations in the Bering Sea, the marginal sea connecting the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Paleoclimatic indicators will be used to generate complete and detailed records of changes in the biological, chemical, and physical oceanographic conditions in the Bering Sea, as well as of the adjacent continental climate. In addition to being sensitive to regional and potentially global climate change, the Bering Sea is one of the source regions of the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). Because the production of the NPIW is thought to be linked to global climate change and to Pacific Ocean circulation and nutrient distributions, investigating the evolution of conditions in regions of NPIW formation is critical for understanding the paleoceanography of the Pacific Ocean. Drilling in the Bering Sea will also document the effect of changes in the Bering Strait gateway region. The Bering Strait is the main gateway through which communication (flux of heat, salt, and nutrients) between the Atlantic and Pacific, via the Arctic Ocean, occurs today. Investigating the evolution of the Bering Strait is critical for understanding transitions in global ocean heat and nutrient budgets.

Publications

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Asahi H (2016) Orbital-scale benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope stratigraphy at the northern Bering Sea Slope Site U1343 (IODP Expedition 323) and its Pleistocene paleoceanographic significance in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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Detlef H (2020) Multi-elemental composition of authigenic carbonates in benthic foraminifera from the eastern Bering Sea continental margin (International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1343) in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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KAMINSKI M (2013) Pliocene agglutinated benthic Foraminifera from Site U1341 in the Bering Sea (IODP Expedition 323) in Geological Quarterly

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Kender S (2017) Modern deep-water agglutinated foraminifera from IODP Expedition 323, Bering Sea: ecological and taxonomic implications in Journal of Micropalaeontology

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Kender S (2018) Closure of the Bering Strait caused Mid-Pleistocene Transition cooling. in Nature communications

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Kender S (2019) Benthic foraminifera indicate Glacial North Pacific Intermediate Water and reduced primary productivity over Bowers Ridge, Bering Sea, since the Mid-Brunhes Transition in Journal of Micropalaeontology

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Takahashi K (2011) IODP Expedition 323 – Pliocene and Pleistocene Paleoceanographic Changes in the Bering Sea in Scientific Drilling

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Wehrmann L (2011) Coupled organic and inorganic carbon cycling in the deep subseafloor sediment of the northeastern Bering Sea Slope (IODP Exp. 323) in Chemical Geology

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Worne S (2019) Coupled climate and subarctic Pacific nutrient upwelling over the last 850,000 years in Earth and Planetary Science Letters

 
Description Expedition 323 in the Bering Sea focused on analyzing long-term ocean and climate trends and the evolution of higher frequency glacial-interglacial to millennial-scale oscillations through the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Our primary drilling objective was to obtain sediments whose components could be used to elucidate the detailed evolutionary history of climate, surface ocean, and intermediate water conditions since the earliest Pliocene in the Bering Sea, where amplified high-resolution changes of climatic signals are recorded. Our objectives, in terms of acquiring the sediment core samples as well as conducting shipboard research, were met because our targeted drill sites had extremely high sedimentation rates containing abundant microfossils and other paleoceanographic proxies. The research carried out to-date continues to uncover the history of sea ice development, nutrient utilization, and intermediate water ventilation over the past 4 million years.
Exploitation Route Our findings have been and will continue to be used by the palaeoceanographic community to study orbital and millennial-scale climate change during the past 4 million years, understanding the climatic sensitivity of the Bering Sea region to past changes.
Sectors Environment,Other
URL http://www.sci-dril.net/11/4/2011/