Difficulties remain with theoretical explanations of the apparent reduced zonal sea surface temperature gradient in the tropical Pacific of the Pliocene. One favored hypothesis is that it was a ‘‘permanent El Niño’’ state, with the warm phase of ENSO remaining fixed over millions of years. Here, an alternative is suggested— that there was a ‘‘perpetually running ENSO’’ with a shorter return tim...

Referee3: Review of the manuscript "Reconciling single chamber Mg/Ca with whole test d18O in surface to deep dwelling planktonic foraminifera from the Mozambique Channel“ by J. Steinhardt, C. Cleroux, L. de Nooijer, G.-J. Brummer, R. Zahn, G. Ganssen, and G.-J. Reichart. This manuscript presents a large data set of single specimen stable isotopes and single chamber Mg/Ca on four species of plan...

The paper entitled “Variation in stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of individual benthic foraminifera: tracers for quantifying the vital effect” by Ishimura San et al. deals with the applicability of inter-individual delta13C and delta18O distributions (Standard Deviation within species) to reconstruct the bottom water isotopic signatures. This work is based on live and dead (assumed as modern)...

1. The first, introductory part is a one-minute sequence showing a simulation of Foraminifera – single-celled eukaryotes that occupy marine benthic and pelagic zones from polar to tropic areas. These organisms have an extraordinary fossil record since Cambrian (about 540 million years ago), which makes them an ideal model organism and a microfossil often used for paleoreconstructions and testin...