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Science 23 March 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5819, pp. 1701 - 1704
DOI: 10.1126/science.1138131
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Reports

Coupled Thermal and Hydrological Evolution of Tropical Africa over the Last Deglaciation

Johan W. H. Weijers,1* Enno Schefuß,2{dagger} Stefan Schouten,1 Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté1

We analyzed the distribution of branched tetraether membrane lipids derived from soil bacteria in a marine sediment record that was recovered close to the Congo River outflow, and the results enabled us to reconstruct large-scale continental temperature changes in tropical Africa that span the past 25,000 years. Tropical African temperatures gradually increased from ~21° to 25°C over the last deglaciation, which is a larger warming than estimated for the tropical Atlantic Ocean. A direct comparison with sea-surface temperature estimates from the same core revealed that the land-sea temperature difference was, through the thermal pressure gradient, an important control on central African precipitation patterns.

1 Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Post Office Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg–Texel, Netherlands.
2 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)–Research Center Ocean Margins, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany.

{dagger} Present address: Institute for Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Strasse 10, 28114 Kiel, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jweijers{at}nioz.nl

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)