Abstract

Sea surface temperature (SST) is used to infer past changes in the state of the climate system. Here we use a combination of newly generated and published organic paleothermometer records, together with novel high-resolution benthic foraminiferal δ18O stratigraphy, from four sites in the midlatitude North Atlantic (41–58°N) to reconstruct the long-term evolution of the latitudinal SST gradient during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene (4.0 to 2.4 Myr), the last time atmospheric CO2 reached concentrations above 400 ppmv. We demonstrate that the latitudinal SST gradient in the North Atlantic nearly collapsed twice during this period. We conclude that the latitudinal SST gradient in the midlatitude North Atlantic has two end-members: a maximum as existing at present and a minimum that existed during certain periods of the (late) Pliocene. Our results suggest that the 400-ppmv Pliocene world was more dynamic than currently thought.