Sea surface temperatures (SST) within the Coral Sea interact with the larger-scale western Pacific Ocean and climate system in multiple ways. For instance, surface waters transported from the Coral Sea via western boundary currents (WBCs) to both the equatorial Pacific and the high southern latitudes, equally influence the Western Pacific Warm Pool and the Australian climate. Meridional temperature gradients affect the strength of the WBCs, which in turn control the export of heat and energy. Furthermore, SSTs play an important role in regulating the regional hydroclimate. SST reconstructions from the Coral Sea are thus essential to understand the regional ocean and climate dynamics. However, the few existing Coral Sea SST records are of low temporal resolution and neither continuous, nor consistent.

Here, we present new records of SST from gravity cores GeoB22229-1/GeoB22230-1, recovered offshore northeastern Australia (145°5’E, 15°38’S). The combined records of these two cores provide a continuous time series covering the last 130 kyr at centennial-to-millennial scale resolution. Our Mg/Ca and alkenone-based SST estimates show generally consistent patterns of variability over the last glacial-interglacial cycle, albeit with different amplitudes of SST variations. However, our new records show a substantially different pattern, for instance, of the deglacial temperature rise, compared to previously published Coral Sea SST reconstructions. Based on a compilation of the new and published records covering the last glacial-interglacial cycle, we will discuss the evolution of SST across the Coral Sea and explore potential forcing factors and implications for regional ocean and climate dynamics.