Evidence for stronger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Events in a Mid-Holocene massive coral
Abstract
We present a 47-year-long record of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Sr/Ca and U/Ca analysis of a massive Porites coral which grew at ∼ 4150 calendar years before present (B.P.) in Vanuatu (southwest tropical Pacific Ocean). Mean SST is similar in both the modern instrumental record and paleorecord, and both exhibit El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency SST oscillations. However, several strong decadal-frequency cooling events and a marked modulation of the seasonal SST cycle, with power at both ENSO and decadal frequencies, are observed in the paleorecord, which are unprecedented in the modern record.
- Publication:
-
Paleoceanography
- Pub Date:
- August 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1029/1999PA000409
- Bibcode:
- 2000PalOc..15..465C
- Keywords:
-
- Oceanography: General: Climate and interannual variability;
- Oceanography: General: Paleoceanography;
- Oceanography: Physical: El Nino;
- Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Geochemistry