Tightly linked zonal and meridional sea surface temperature gradients over the past five million years

The climate of the tropics and surrounding regions is defined by pronounced zonal (east–west) and meridional (equator to mid-latitudes) gradients in sea surface temperature. These gradients control zonal and meridional atmospheric circulations, and thus the Earth’s climate. Global cooling over the past five million years, since the early Pliocene epoch, was accompanied by the gradual strengthening of these temperature gradients. Here we use records from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, including a new alkenone palaeotemperature record from the South Pacific, to reconstruct changes in zonal and meridional sea surface temperature gradients since the Pliocene, and assess their connection using a comprehensive climate model. We find that the reconstructed zonal and meridional temperature gradients vary coherently over this time frame, showing a one-to-one relationship between their changes. In our model simulations, we systematically reduce the meridional sea surface temperature gradient by modifying the latitudinal distribution of cloud albedo or atmospheric CO2 concentration. The simulated zonal temperature gradient in the equatorial Pacific adjusts proportionally. These experiments and idealized modelling indicate that the meridional temperature gradient controls upper-ocean stratification in the tropics, which in turn controls the zonal gradient along the equator, as well as heat export from the tropical oceans. We conclude that this tight linkage between the two sea surface temperature gradients posits a fundamental constraint on both past and future climates.