U-series age patterns obtained on reef framework-forming cold-water corals collected over a nearly 6,000 km long continental margin sector, extending from off Mauritania to the south-western Barents Sea reveal strong climate influences on the geographical distribution and sustained development of these ecosystems. During glacial times densely populated cold-water coral reefs flourished in the temperate east Atlantic, where at present only scarce live coral occurrences exist. In contrast, climate warming induces a rapid northward colonization of cold-water coral reefs with the biogeographic limit advancing from ∼45• N to ∼70• N. Thus, we invoke here that north-south oscillations of the polar front during the past glacial-interglacial cycles and the consequent displacement of cold nutrient-rich intermediate waters and productivity drives the decline and expansion of cold-water coral ecosystems and its biogeographic limits in the northeast Atlantic.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

[1] The neodymium (Nd) isotopic composition (expressed in epsilon units, "Nd) of reef framework-forming coldwater corals provides unique measures of water mass provenance and mixing within the Northeast Atlantic today and in the past. A reconstruction of near thermocline water "Nd from cold-water corals of the Gulf of Cádiz and Porcupine Seabight spanning over the past 300,000 years, now revealed that climate cooling during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 7.2 and MIS 8/9 led to a retraction of the mid-depth Subpolar Gyre (mSPG) to the west. Conversely, Northern Hemisphere warming and increasing fresh water fluxes to the northwest (Labrador Sea) favor a stronger eastward extension of the mSPG blocking the northward flow of temperate Atlantic water as observed during the early MIS 1 and the early stage MIS 5.5. These changes are likely the result of large-scale south-north displacement of the westerlies similar to present-day observations that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is linked with mid-depth ocean circulation. Based on these observations, we hypothesize that further climate warming will also strengthen the mSPG leading to a salt and temperature decrease in the Northeast Atlantic whereas salinity and temperature will increase in the temperate Atlantic. However, the amplitude of such changes on North Atlantic overturning remains to be tested.