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Modern Analog Techniques

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences

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Modern analog technique, often abbreviated as MAT, is a popular type of transfer function used in paleoceanography to reconstruct past ocean properties from the composition of fossil assemblages extracted from deep-sea sediments. In the vast majority of cases, MAT is applied to reconstruct past sea-surface temperature from remains of marine unicellular microplankton such as planktonic foraminifera, radiolaria, diatoms, and dinoflagellates.

The method has been introduced to paleoceanography by Hutson (1980). Mathematically, it is akin to k-nearest neighbor regression. Its procedure is computationally and conceptually very simple. First, a similarity coefficient is calculated between the composition of a fossil assemblage in a geological sample and the compositions of corresponding assemblages in a “calibration dataset” of surface-sediment samples. Then, the surface-sediment samples are sorted by their similarity coefficient, and a subset of those with most similar assemblages, termed...

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Bibliography

  • Hutson, W. H., 1980. The Agulhas current during the late Pleistocene: analysis of modern faunal analogs. Science, 207, 64–66.

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  1. MARUM Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Leobener Strasse, POP 330 440, D-28359, Bremen, Germany

    Michal Kucera

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  1. Michal Kucera
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Correspondence to Michal Kucera .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Jan Harff

  2. Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Meschede

  3. Leibiniz Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Sven Petersen

  4. Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and Lit c/o Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

    Jörn Thiede

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Kucera, M. (2015). Modern Analog Techniques. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_77-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_77-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6644-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Modern Analog Techniques
    Published:
    09 February 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_77-3

  2. Original

    Modern Analog Techniques
    Published:
    12 February 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_77-2

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