A high resolution record of sea surface temperature in southern Okinawa Trough for the past 15,000 years

•High resolution sea surface temperature in Okinawa Trough was reconstructed for the past 15,000 years.•Abrupt climate changes such as the B/A warming, Older Dryas, YD and 8.2 ka events were detected in Okinawa Trough.•Holocene sea surface temperature in Okinawa Trough was mediated by a complex sun–ocean–atmosphere coupling.

The study of long-chain alkenones in the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) core 1202B reveals a sub-centennial resolution record of sea surface temperature (SST) in the southern Okinawa Trough for the past 15 thousand years (kyr). From the Deglaciation to Holocene, SST varied from 21.1 to 26.5 °C. The presence of Bølling (15.0–14.2 kyr BP) and Allerød (13.7–13.4 kyr BP) warming phases, Older Dryas (14.2–13.7 kyr BP) and Younger Dryas (12.8–11.6 kyr BP) cold periods reflects a tight teleconnection of climate between the Okinawa Trough and the North Atlantic region in the last Deglaciation. After rapidly increased and reached the maximum at ~ 7.4 kyr BP, SST in the southern OT gradually decreased, corresponding with the lowering of northern hemisphere summer solar insolation. However, a series of abrupt SST drops were identified at ca. 8.6–8.1, 5.8–4.8, 4.1–3.9, 3.0–2.5, 1.6–1.3 and 0.6–0.5 kyr BP, which cannot be explained by solar insolation changes alone, and instead are mediated by a complex sun–ocean–atmosphere coupling.