This $192,832 National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences Project Grant supports research at San Jose State University to generate new paleoceanographic records from the late Miocene to early Pliocene periods in the central Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. The records will document ocean surface temperature and biological productivity variability to provide insights into the role of the Southern Ocean in late Miocene climate change. Specifically, the grant will fund the development of a high-resolution sea surface temperature record from Site U1541 using the UK37 proxy method to constrain the cold southern end member of the meridional sea surface temperature gradient during this warmer period. Paleoproductivity proxies will also be analyzed to test the hypothesis that enhanced marine productivity contributed to the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide leading into the Pliocene. The work directly supports the goals of the NSF Geosciences program to expand understanding of the integrated Earth system through basic research in the atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences. Results from this project have the potential to improve climate modeling of warmer periods and provide insight into the climate system responses to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and orbital variability under different mean state conditions.