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Eastern Pacific corals monitor El Niño/Southern Oscillation, precipitation, and sea surface temperature variability over the past 3 centuries

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Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 41))

Abstract

300 to 400 year-long marine climate reconstructions based on oxygen isotopic ratios in eastern Pacific corals document climate regimes significantly different from those of the modern instrumental period. Past climate variability may be expressed as: 1) changes in the frequency of El Niño warm-mode and cool-mode events, 2) changes in the strength of the annual cycle in eastern Pacific precipitation, and 3) inversely correlated decade-to-century trends in sea surface temperature at Galápagos and rainfall in Panamá. The coral records suggest slight cooling through time near the equator and increased rainfall in Panamá, probably linked to slightly higher water temperatures in the warm region west of Central America. The eastern tropical Pacific exerts a strong influence on North and Central American climate. A network of coral sites is needed to provide additional details about past marine-terrestrial climate forcing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Rice University, MS-126, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77005, USA

    Robert B Dunbar & Braddock K Linsley

  2. Department of Biology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, 77204, USA

    Gerard M Wellington

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  1. Robert B Dunbar
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  2. Braddock K Linsley
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  3. Gerard M Wellington
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Philip D. Jones

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 01003-5820, MA, USA

    Raymond S. Bradley

  3. Laboratoire de Modélisation du Climat et de l’Environnment, Orme des Merisiers, C E Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, F-91191, France

    Jean Jouzel

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Dunbar, R.B., Linsley, B.K., Wellington, G.M. (1996). Eastern Pacific corals monitor El Niño/Southern Oscillation, precipitation, and sea surface temperature variability over the past 3 centuries. In: Jones, P.D., Bradley, R.S., Jouzel, J. (eds) Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years. NATO ASI Series, vol 41. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61113-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61113-1_18

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