Bibliography

The South China Sea, due to its location and high sedimentary C37 alkenone concentrations, is an ideal environment for the evaluation of the linear relationship between the alkenone-derived UK37 index and sea surface temperatures (SST) at the warm boundary. The alkenone compounds in this system have been analyzed in a series of coretop sediments covering most of the areas situated far from the influence of riverine inputs. The resulting UK37 indices have been correlated with averaged SST of various depth levels and seasons. Curve fitting of these parameters have shown that the linear UK37/SST relationship is maintained at the warm end, which strongly contrasts with the lack of correlation at low SST reported in other studies. The best curve fittings of the UK37 measurements are obtained for the annually averaged 0–30 m water column temperatures, providing a linear equation, UK37 = 0.031T + 0.092, that is the same within error limits as those previously obtained in open ocean sites or Emiliania huxleyi cultures.