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Evidences linking ENSO and coral growth in the Southwestern-South Atlantic

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Abstract

Physical and biological changes in the marine environment, induced by oceanic-atmospheric processes, can be imprinted in massive coral skeletons. Herein, we present an evidence of potential El Niño impacts at the Southwestern South Atlantic Ocean (SWSA) inferred from the sclerochronology of the reef coral Favia leptophylla. The application of spectral analysis (wavelet decomposition and the iterative regression) to coral growth length and to meteorological-oceanographic parameters (air temperature, sea surface temperature and precipitation) as well as to Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and solar irradiation indicated a major significant inverse relationship between SOI and coral growth length at the 4–8 years frequency band. We propose here that coral growth length from the SWSA could be affected by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events through an “atmospheric bridge”, in contrast to its direct effect at the Pacific Ocean, related to the increase in sea surface temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the LARAMG/UERJ staff, INPE to have supplied satellite images processing, the Paleotropique project/IRD to have gathered researchers in Brazil to improve paleo-climate studies using coral records and AMANCAY French national project for financial support. T. Ambrizzi was supported by CNPq and FAPESP. Z. M. A. N. Leão and R. K. P. Kikuchi benefits from CNPq fellowships. N. R. Rigozo—CNPq (APQ 470764/2006-6 and postdoctoral fellowship, 15012/2005-4).

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Evangelista, H., Godiva, D., Sifeddine, A. et al. Evidences linking ENSO and coral growth in the Southwestern-South Atlantic. Clim Dyn 29, 869–880 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-007-0271-8

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