A record of the last 460 thousand years of upper ocean stratification from the central Walvis Ridge, South Atlantic

The upper branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation predominantly enters the Atlantic Ocean through the southeast, where the subtropical gyre is exposed to the influence of the Agulhas leakage (AL). To understand how the transfer of Indian Ocean waters via the AL affected the upper water column of this region, we have generated new proxy records of planktic foraminifera from a core on the central Walvis Ridge, on the eastern flank of the South Atlantic Gyre (SAG). We analyzed the isotopic composition of subsurface dweller Globigerinoides ruber sensu lato, and thermocline Globorotalia truncatulinoides sinistral, spanning the last five Pleistocene glacial-interglacial (G-IG) cycles. The former displays a response to obliquity, suggesting connection with high latitude forcing, and a warming tendency during each glacial termination, in response to the interhemispheric seesaw. The δ