Articles | Volume 9, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-739-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-739-2017
Review article
 | 
28 Sep 2017
Review article |  | 28 Sep 2017

A database of paleoceanographic sediment cores from the North Pacific, 1951–2016

Marisa Borreggine, Sarah E. Myhre, K. Allison S. Mislan, Curtis Deutsch, and Catherine V. Davis

Abstract. We assessed sediment coring, data acquisition, and publications from the North Pacific (north of 30° N) from 1951 to 2016. There are 2134 sediment cores collected by American, French, Japanese, Russian, and international research vessels across the North Pacific (including the Pacific subarctic gyre, Alaskan gyre, Japan margin, and California margin; 1391 cores), the Sea of Okhotsk (271 cores), the Bering Sea (123 cores), and the Sea of Japan (349 cores) reported here. All existing metadata associated with these sediment cores are documented here, including coring date, location, core number, cruise number, water depth, vessel metadata, and coring technology. North Pacific sediment core age models are built with isotope stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, tephrochronology, % opal, color, and lithological proxies. Here, we evaluate the iterative generation of each published age model and provide comprehensive documentation of the dating techniques used, along with sedimentation rates and age ranges. We categorized cores according to the availability of a variety of proxy evidence, including biological (e.g., benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages), geochemical (e.g., major trace element concentrations), isotopic (e.g., bulk sediment nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon isotopes), and stratigraphic (e.g., preserved laminations) proxies. This database is a unique resource to the paleoceanographic and paleoclimate communities and provides cohesive accessibility to sedimentary sequences, age model development, and proxies. The data set is publicly available through PANGAEA at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.875998.

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Short summary
We created a database of 2134 marine sediment cores above 30° N in the North Pacific from 1951 to 2016 to facilitate paleoceanographic and paleoclimate research. This database allows for accessibility to sedimentary sequences, age models, and proxies produced in the North Pacific. We found community-wide shifts towards multiproxy investigation and increased age model generation. The database consolidates the research efforts of an entire community into an efficient tool for future investigations.