We present gridded sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) for the Atlantic basin (45 °S–60°N) as averages over the period AD1790–1825, based on early-instrumental SST data. The original measurements were compiled by Major James Rennell and made by numerous British naval vessels on behalf of the British Admiralty. We describe the digitization of this dataset and the reconstruction of spatially coherent...

Documented sightings of harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean are rare, although the species is common in the neighbouring North Atlantic and Black Sea. However, in the past 2 decades, 4 harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena have been recorded in the northern Aegean Sea in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Samples were taken from 2 of these. Both have a genetic signature indicative of the Black S...

Waxing/waning of the ice sheets and the associated change in thermohaline circulation have played an important role in global climate change since major continental ice sheets appeared in the northern hemisphere about 2.75 million years ago. In the earliest glacial stages, however, establishment of the linkage between ice sheet development and ocean circulation remains largely unclear. Here, we...

The present Atlantic thermohaline circulation is dominated by deep water formation in the north despite the fact that surface buoyancy forcing has relatively modest latitudinal asymmetry. Many studies have shown that even with buoyancy forcing that is symmetric about the equator, spontaneous symmetry breaking can produce a single overturning cell with intense sinking in the north. This occurs b...

The leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of the sea level pressure (SLP) field, referred to as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) or Northern Hemisphere annular mode (NAM), consists of a dipole between the polar cap region and the surrounding zonal ring centered along 458N. Embedded within the outer ring are centers of action over the Euro-Atlantic and Pacific sectors in which SLP fluctuates in...