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The faunal transition was also associated with increased abundance and flux of the relatively thermophile VX-661 N. incompta and G. bulloides indicating stronger influence from Atlantic Water ( Johannessen et al., 1994 and Risebrobakken et al., 2011) in the eastern Fram Strait with summer sSSTTransfer averaging ca. 5.5 °C after ca. 10,300 cal yr B.P. ( Fig. 3 and Fig. 5). This change coincides with markedly increased bottom current speeds in the northern Fram Strait ( Birgel and Hass, 2004) and strong inflow of Atlantic Water to the western and northern Svalbard margin and fjords ( Ślubowska-Woldengen et al., 2007 and Skirbekk et al., 2010). The increased Atlantic Water influx likely also led to cessation of iceberg transport, as indicated by the absence of IRD in our record after ca. 10.500 cal yr B.P. ( Fig. 4B) which occurred almost concurrently all along the West Spitsbergen Slope ( Ebbesen et al., 2007, Rasmussen et al., 2007b and Jessen et al., 2010).
After ca. 10,000 cal yr B.P. minimum δ18O values together with somewhat elevated average sSSTMg/Ca (~ 4 °C) indicate that ambient water temperatures during N. pachyderma test formation were the highest within the record ( Fig. 4 and Fig. 5), while relatively low δ13C values indicate that the water mass was less ventilated at ca. 10,500 to 9000 cal yr B.P. ( Fig. 4). The warm conditions are also reflected by the high summer sSSTTransfer (averaging ~ 5.5 °C) recorded after 10,300 cal yr B.P. ( Fig. 5). However, the sSSTTransfer shows a trend toward lower average summer temperatures after ca. 9300 cal yr B.P. with a pronounced low (~ 3.3 °C) observed at ca. 8800 cal yr B.P. ( Fig. 4 and Fig. 5), which may indicate the first step toward the termination of high Early Holocene summer surface temperatures also observed in other records along the Barents Sea and West Spitsbergen slopes at approximately this time ( Sarnthein et al., 2003 and Ebbesen et al., 2007).