Introduction to the Special Section “Proxy Records and Mechanistic Studies of the Late Quaternary Paleoceanography of the Western Pacific Marginal Seas Using IMAGES Cores”

Abstract

The western Pacific Ocean plays an important role in regulating and modulating the global climate system on interannual to geological timescales. Excellent records have been acquired by coring high sedimentation rate sites in the marginal seas of the western Pacific Ocean during IMAGES cruises. This special section has been proposed to publish papers presenting high-resolution records and the interpretation of climate change mechanisms revealed by these records.Chen et al. (2008) O record (100, 41, and 23 kyr cycles), cross-spectral analyses of the other proxy time series revealed different patterns separated by the MidBrunhes (MIS 13 -10, 535 -333 ka). The sediment coarse fraction and color (both are carbonate preservation proxies) both show relatively stronger powers at the 41-kyr band, and coherence among various proxies is relatively high, before the Mid-Brunhes. After the Mid-Brunhes, 100-kyr periodicity dominated both the d 18