High-resolution marine palynological data have been obtained from two very long sediment cores (MD952009 and MD952010) retrieved from the southern Norwegian Sea. The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages show pronounced fluctuations in composition, which correlate strongly with magnetic susceptibility records and also mimic the δ18O signal of the GISP2 Greenland ice-core. If focusing on the period from 48 to 30 cal. kyr BP, this correlation suggests a paradoxical response of the sea-surface environments to the atmospheric conditions over Greenland: when the Greenland δ18O signal reflects warm interstadial conditions, the Norwegian Sea depicts cold sea-surface temperatures with quasi-perennial sea-ice cover (based on dinoflagellate cysts). In contrast, when the Greenland δ18O records cold stadial periods, the Norwegian Sea-surface temperatures are warm (based on dinoflagellate cysts), probably linked to inflow of the North Atlantic Drift. These results, similar in both cores, are contrary to those of previous studies and shed light on a possible decoupling of Norwegian sea surface-water conditions and atmospheric conditions over Greenland. This decoupling could be linked to an atmosphere-ocean system behaving similar to that which the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing at present, i.e. strongly variable owing to the North Atlantic Oscillation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.