Centennial climate variability over the last ice age exhibits clear bipolar behavior. High-resolution analyses of marine sediment cores from the Iberian margin trace a number of associated changes simultaneously. Proxies of sea surface temperature and water mass distribution, as well as relative biomarker content, demonstrate that this typical north-south coupling was pervasive for the cold phases of climate during the past 420,000 years. Cold episodes after relatively warm and largely ice-free periods occurred when the predominance of deep water formation changed from northern to southern sources. These results reinforce the connection between rapid climate changes at Mediterranean latitudes and century-to-millennial variability in northern and southern polar regions.

The physical, social and intellectual development of children from conception to the end of adolescence requires an environment that is both protected and protective of their health. A growing number of diseases in children are linked to unsafe environments. Pre-natal and early life exposures are associated with child development and health and predispose to late adult effects.

Past sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean) during the last 50,000 years has been inferred from the study of C₃₇ alkenones in International Marine Global Change Studies MD952043 core. This record has a time resolution of ∼200 years allowing the study of millennial‐scale and even shorter climatic changes. The observed SST curve displays characteristic sequences of extremely rapid warming and cooling events along the glacial period. Comparison of this Alboran record with δ¹⁸O from Greenland ice (Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 core) shows a strong parallelism between these SST oscillations and the Dansgaard‐Oeschger events. Five prominent cooling episodes standing out in the SST profile are accompanied by an anomalous high abundance of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral which is confined to the duration of these cold intervals. These features and the isotopic record reflect drastic changes in the surface hydrography of the Alboran Sea in association with Heinrich events Hl–5.