Biomarker-based Seawater Temperatures of Winter Sinking Particles and Core-top Sediment in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea

Abstract

This study evaluates the application of biomarkerbased temperature proxy data (alkenone with its resultant U37K′ index and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) with its resultant TEX86and TEX index) in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea. Based U37K′ on the and TEX86 indices from particles trapped for 10 days in December, 2015 and core-top sediment as well as the comparison of these indices to in situ seawater temperature data (from 2012 to 2016) from the Korea Oceanographic Data Center, this study confirms that the U37K′ index of core-top sediment indicates the annual mean SST of the surface water. This study also suggests that TEX86 data of core-top sediment may represent the annual mean temperature of the subsurface water. However, a reliable calibration equation for GDGT will be required in this regional environment for the proper application of GDGT-based paleotemperature reconstruction. © 2019, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) and the Korean Society of Oceanography (KSO) and Springer Science+Business Media B.V.