Comparison of Alkenone Equations for surface water temperature estimation in the Eastern South Sea and Southern East Sea, Korea

Abstract

A series of long chain unsaturated ketone (alkenone) was identified in the particulate organic matter sampled from surface water of the eastern South Sea, Korea. The seawater temperature based on the C37 alkenone was calculated by using several different equations of unsaturation index (UK'37), compared with in situ CTD temperature. Among the previously reported equations, the equation (0.044T-0.204) which was proposed by Sawada et al. (1996) seems to be the most useful for the calculation of C37 alkenone temperature, showing average 0.51℃ difference between UK'37 temperature and in situ CTD temperature. This result suggest that alkenone should be a useful molecular biomarker for reconstructing paleoenvironmental change in the South and East Sea, Korea. However, it is required to establish more reliable equation for the calculation of C37 alkenone temperature.