DID HOLOCENE VARIABILITY IN ALEUTIAN LOW DYNAMICS FORCE OSCILLATIONS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN SUBSISTENCE HARVESTERS?

Linkages between atmospheric dynamics and ocean circulation are a key driver for modern environmental and biological variability in the Subarctic North Pacific Ocean (SNPO), as seen in a wide-ranging set of instrumental and observational data. Based on paleoclimatological proxy data of SNPO conditions, we hypothesize that consistent spatiotemporal patterns of mid-to-late Holocene variability exist at centennial and longer timescales, driven by interactions between the atmospheric Aleutian Low pressure cell and the oceanic North Pacific Gyre. Comparisons between marine sediment core data from the NE and NW margins of the SNPO indicate divergent trends in siliceous (diatom) productivity since at least 5000 calibrated years before present which lends support to this hypothesis. Building upon this evidence, we further suggest that ancient human populations that were dependent upon SNPO marine food webs for subsistence may also track with these high and low diatom production regimes. This presentation is a contribution from the Paleoecology of the Subarctic Seas (PESAS) Working Group, and will evaluate these proposed linkages using proxy data from atmospheric, oceanographic, ecological and archaeological records from Alaska (including the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Archipelago), the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, and Japan (Hokkaido).