This project will analyze stable isotopes and taxonomic assemblages of planktic foraminifera, and mineralogy of colian particles, in a north-south transect of cores along the Canary Current and the West African upwelling zone. Preliminary daa from a site off West Africa indicate the existence of a 1500-year thermal cycle during the Holocene, similar to a cycle identified in the subpolar North Atlantic. The study will explore the spatial extent of subtropical cooling events in the Holocene and attempt to determine whether they result from larger-scale changes in eastern boundary currents or local changes in West African upwelling.
