]> 2026-05-01T09:32:58+00:00 Publication.10.1038/nature09751 0 en The disintegration of ice shelves, reduced sea-ice and glacier extent, and shifting ecological zones observed around Antarctica (Cook et al., 2005; Stammerjohn et al., 2008) highlight the impact of recent atmospheric (Steig et al., 2009) and oceanic warming (Gille, 2002) on the cryosphere. Observations (Cook et al., 2005; Stammerjohn et al., 2008) and models (Pollard and DeConto, 2009) suggest that oceanic and atmospheric temperature variations at Antarctica's margins affect global cryosphere stability, ocean circulation, sea levels and carbon cycling. In particular, recent climate changes on the Antarctic Peninsula have been dramatic, yet the Holocene climate variability of this region is largely unknown, limiting our ability to evaluate ongoing changes within the context of historical variability and underlying forcing mechanisms. Here we show that surface ocean temperatures at the continental margin of the western Antarctic Peninsula cooled by 3-4 °C over the past 12,000?years, tracking the Holocene decline of local (65° S) spring insolation. Our results, based on TEX86 sea surface temperature (SST) proxy evidence from a marine sediment core, indicate the importance of regional summer duration as a driver of Antarctic seasonal sea-ice fluctuations (Huybers and Denton, 2008, doi:10.1038/ngeo311). On millennial timescales, abrupt SST fluctuations of 2-4 °C coincide with globally recognized climate variability (Mayewski et al., 2004, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2004.07.001). Similarities between our SSTs, Southern Hemisphere westerly wind reconstructions (Moreno et al., 2010, doi:10.1130/G30962.1) and El Niño/Southern Oscillation variability (Conroy et al., 2008, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.02.015) indicate that present climate teleconnections between the tropical Pacific Ocean and the western Antarctic Peninsula (Yuan et al., 2004, doi:10.1017/S0954102004002238) strengthened late in the Holocene epoch. We conclude that during the Holocene, Southern Ocean temperatures at the western Antarctic Peninsula margin were tied to changes in the position of the westerlies, which have a critical role in global carbon cycling (Moreno et al., 2010, doi:10.1130/G30962.1; Anderson et al., 2009, doi:10.1126/science.1167441). shevenell2011holocenesouthernoceansurf doi.org 10.1038/nature09751 7333 Nature 250-254 doi.org 2011 Nature Publishing Group Springer Nature Holocene Southern Ocean surface temperature variability west of the Antarctic Peninsula article journal-article 470 2017-05-26T18:46:39Z 2457900.2823958 Publication.10.1038/nature09751 Ocn-WesternAntarcticPeninsula.Shevenell.2011 0 en Ocn-WesternAntarcticPeninsula.Shevenell.2011 ODP1098B.Shevenell.2011 0 en ODP1098B.Shevenell.2011 PublishedIn (L) 102 en core:publishedIn|http://linked.earth/ontology# PublishedIn (L)