Understanding past variations in Indian Ocean circulation and ventilation over the Quaternary Period is crucial for deciphering regional and global climate dynamics, particularly in relation to the potential weakening/collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and its far-reaching climatic and biogeochemical consequences in a warming world. The Indian Ocean plays a pivotal role in heat distribution, monsoonal precipitation, biogeochemical cycles, and the ocean-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide across tectonic, glacial-interglacial and millennial time scales.

This session aims to investigate variation in the deep/intermediate water circulations in the Indian Ocean and their climatic impacts on the carbon cycle, monsoonal precipitation, ocean biogeochemistry, and deoxygenation both in time and space. It will provide a platform to discuss and deliberate upon the integration of multiple biological, geochemical, and isotopic proxy records and modelling studies from the Indian Ocean, which is vital to better constrain the formation and circulation history of deep/intermediate-water masses on different time scales throughout the Quaternary. Additionally, discussions will explore the drivers of circulation variability and the broader climatic implications of these shifts within the Indian Ocean framework.

We welcome contributions that address past changes in Indian Ocean deep and intermediate water circulation and its climatic implications across different timescales. The paleoceanographic studies from other regions of the global ocean, which have bearing upon the teleconnections to Indian Ocean dynamics are also encouraged