Sea surface temperature over the past 450 ka was obtained by the unsaturation of molecular fossil-long chain alkenone with a resolution of about 1 ka from the western South China Sea. This is the longest temperature profile in the South China Sea at such high resolution. The U3k7′-SST results revealed similar glacial-interglacial cycles as the δ18O profile of planktonic foraminifera, with SST variability of 23―25.5℃ for glacial and 25―28℃ for interglacial periods. The highest SST (28.4℃) was recorded at MIS5.5 and lowest SST (22.6℃) during MIS2. The SST record preceded the planktonic foraminiferal δ18O on five glacial-interglacial transitions. Comparison of temperature records from the Southern and Northern Hemispheres indicated a more Southern Hemisphere-like pattern for the temperature variation in the SCS. Strong precession and semiprecession signals in the spectra of our SST record manifest the tropical phenomena.
