Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Three monthly coral Sr/Ca records from the Chagos Archipelago covering the period of 1950–1995 A.D.: reproducibility and implications for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In order to assess the fidelity of coral Sr/Ca for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations, we have generated three monthly Sr/Ca time series from Porites corals from the lagoon of Peros Banhos (71°E, 5°S, Chagos Archipelago). We find that all three coral Sr/Ca time series are well correlated with instrumental records of sea surface temperature (SST) and air temperature. However, the intrinsic variance of the single-core Sr/Ca time series differs from core to core, limiting their use for quantitative estimates of past temperature variations. Averaging the single-core data improves the correlation with instrumental temperature (r > 0.7) and allows accurate estimates of interannual temperature variations (~0.35°C or better). All Sr/Ca time series indicate a shift towards warmer temperatures in the mid-1970s, which coincides with the most recent regime shift in the Pacific Ocean. However, the magnitude of the warming inferred from coral Sr/Ca differs from core to core and ranges from 0.26 to 0.75°C. The composite Sr/Ca record from Peros Banhos clearly captures the major climatic signals in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, i.e. the El Niño–southern oscillation and the Pacific decadal oscillation. Moreover, composite Sr/Ca is highly correlated with tropical mean temperatures (r = 0.7), suggesting that coral Sr/Ca time series from the tropical Indian Ocean will contribute to multi-proxy reconstructions of tropical mean temperatures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alibert C, McCulloch MT (1997) Strontium/calcium ratios in modern Porites corals from the Great Barrier Reef as a proxy for sea surface temperature: calibration of the thermometer and monitoring of ENSO. Paleoceanography 12:345–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Annamalai H, Slingo JM, Sperber KR, Hodges K (1999) The mean evolution and variability of the Asian summer monsoon: comparison of the ECMWF and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Mon Weather Rev 127:1157–1186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asami R, Yamada T, Iryu Y, Meyer CP, Quinn TM, Paulay G (2004) Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of a Guam coral and their relationships to environmental variables in the western Pacific. Paleogeogr Paleoclimatol Paleoecol 212:1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker CB, Eischeid JK, Karl TR, Diaz HF (1994) The quality control of long-term climatological data using objective data analysis. Preprints of AMS ninth conference on applied climatology

  • Beck JW, Edwards RL, Emi I, Taylor FW, Recy J, Rougerie F, Joannot P, Henin C (1992) Sea–surface temperature from coral skeletal strontium/calcium ratios. Science 257:644–647

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck JW, Recy J, Taylor FW, Edwards RL, Gabioch G (1997) Abrupt changes in early Holocene tropical sea surface temperature derived from coral records. Nature 385:705–707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brohan P, Kennedy JJ, Haris I, Tett SFB, Jones PD (2006) Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes: a new dataset from 1850. J Geophys Res 111:D12106. doi:10.1029/2005JD006548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cobb KM, Charles CD, Hunter DE (2001) A central tropical Pacific coral demonstrates Pacific, Indian and Atlantic decadal climate teleconnections. Geophys Res Lett 28:2209–2212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen AL, Lane GD, Hart SR, Lobel PS (2001) Kinetic control of skeletal Sr/Ca in a symbiotic coral: implications for the paleotemperature proxy. Paleoceanography 16:20–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen AL, Owens KE, Layne GD, Shimizu N (2002) The effect of algal symbionts on the accuracy of Sr/Ca paleotemperatures from coral. Science 277:331–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Correge T, Delcroix T, Recy J, Beck W, Gabioch G, Le Cornec F (2000) Evidence for stronger El Niño–southern oscillation (ENSO) events in a mid-Holocene massive coral. Paleoceanography 15:465–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Correge T, Gagan MK, Beck J, Burr G, Gabioch G, Le Cornec F (2004) Interdecadal variation in the extend of South Pacific tropical waters during the Younger Dryas event. Nature 428:927–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crowley TJ, Quinn TM, Hyde WT (1999) Validation of coral temperature calibrations. Paleoceanography 14:605–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Villiers S, Nelson BK, Chivas AR (1995) Biological control on coral Sr/Ca and δ18O reconstructions of sea surface temperatures. Science 269:1247–1249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Villiers S, Greaves M, Elderfield H (2002) An intensity ratio calibration method for the accurate determination of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca of marine carbonates by ICP-AES. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 3. doi:10.1029/2001GC000169

  • Deser C, Phillips AS, Hurrel JW (2004) Pacific interdecadal climate variability: linkages between the tropics and the North Pacific during boreal winter since 1900. J Clim 17:3109–3124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans MN, Cane MA, Schrag DP, Kaplan A, Linsley BK, Villalba R, Wellington GM (2001) Support for tropically-driven Pacific decadal variability based on paleoproxy evidence. Geophys Res Lett 28(3):689–3692

    Google Scholar 

  • Felis T, Lohmann G, Kuhnert H, Lorenz SJ, Scholz D, Pätzold J, Al-Rousan SA, Al-Moghrabi SM (2004) Increased seasonality in Middle East temperatures during the last interglacial period. Nature 429:164–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gagan MK, Chivas AR, Isdale PJ (1994) High-resolution isotopic records from corals using ocean temperature and mass-spawning chronometers. Earth Planet Sci Lett 121:549–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilderson TP, Schrag DP (1999) Reliability of coral records from the western Pacific warm wool: a comparison using age-optimized records. Paleoceanography 4:457–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughen KA, Schrag DP, Jacobsen SB, Hantoro W (1999) El Niño during the last interglacial period recorded by a fossil coral from Indonesia. Geophys Res Lett 26:3129–3132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan A, Cane MA, Kushnir A, Clement A, Blumenthal M, Rajagopalan B (1998) Analysis of global sea surface temperature 1856–1992. J Geophys Res 103:18567–18589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latif M, Dommenget D, Dima M, Grötzner A (1999) The role of the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature in forcing East African rainfall anomalies during December–January 1997/98. J Clim 12:3497–3504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linsley BK, Messier RG, Dunbar RB (1999) Assessing between-colony oxygen isotope variability in the coral Porites lobata at Clipperton Atoll. Coral Reefs 18:13–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linsley BK, Wellington GM, Schrag DP, Ren L, Salinger MJ, Tudhope AW (2004) Geochemical evidence from corals for changes in the amplitude and spatial pattern of South Pacific interdecadal climate variability over the last 300 years. Clim Dyn 22:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linsley BK, Kaplan A, Gouriou Y, Salinger J, de Menocal PB, Wellington GM, Howe SS (2006) Tracking the extent of the South Pacific Convergence Zone since the early 1600s. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 7:Q05003. doi:10.1029/GC001115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantua NJ, Hare SR, Zhang Y, Wallace JM, Francis RC (1997) A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on Salmon production. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:1069–1079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall JF, McCulloch MT (2001) Evidence of El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole from Sr/Ca derived SSTs for modern corals at Christmas Island, eastern Indian Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 28:3453–3456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall JF, McCulloch MT (2002) An assessment of the Sr/Ca ratio in shallow water hermatypic corals as a proxy for sea surface temperature. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 66:3263–3280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McConnaughey TA (1989) C-13 and O-18 isotopic disequilibria in biological carbonates: I. Patterns. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:151–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meibom A, Stage M, Wooden J, Constantz BR, Dunbar RB, Owen A, Grumet N, Bacon CR, Chamberlain CP (2003) Monthly strontium/calcium oscillations in symbiotic coral aragonite: biological effects limiting the precision of the paleotemperature proxy. Geophys Res Lett 30:1418. doi:10.1029/2002GL016864

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meibom A, Yurimoto H, Ciuf JP, Domart-Coulon I, Houlbreque F, Constantz B, Dauphin Y, Tambutte E, Tambutte S, Allem D, Wooden J, Dunbar RB (2006) Vital effects in coral skeletal composition display strict three-dimensional control. Geophys Res Lett 33:L11608. doi:10.1029/2006GL025968

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ourbak T, Correge T, Malaize B, Le Cornec F, Charlier K, Peypouquet JP (2006) A high-resolution investigation of temperature, salinity, and upwelling activity proxies in corals. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 7:Q03013. doi:10.1029/2005GC001064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer M, Dullo WC (2006) Monsoon-induced cooling of the western equatorial Indian Ocean as recorded in coral oxygen isotope records from the Seychelles covering the period of 1840 to 1994 A.D. Quaternary Sci Rev 25:993–1009. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.11.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer M, Dullo WC, Eisenhauer A (2004a) Variability of the intertropical convergence zone recorded in coral isotopic records from the central Indian Ocean (Chagos Archipelago). Quaternary Res 61:245–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer M, Timm O, Dullo WC, Podlech S (2004b) Oceanic forcing of interannual and multidecadal climate variability in the southwestern Indian Ocean: evidence from a 160-year coral isotopic record (La Réunion, 55°E, 21°S). Paleoceanography 19:PA4006. doi:10.1029/2003PA000964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer M, Timm O, Dullo WC, Garbe-Schönberg D (2006) Paired coral Sr/Ca and δ18O records from the Chagos Archipelago: late twentieth century warming affects rainfall variability in the tropical Indian Ocean. Geology 34:1069–1072. doi:10.1130/G23162A.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn TM, Crowley TJ, Taylor FW, Henin C, Joannot P, Join Y (1998) A multicentury stable isotope record from a New Caledonia coral: interannual and decadal sea surface temperature variability in the southwest Pacific since 1657 A.D. Paleoceanography 13:412–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn TM, Taylor FW, Crowley TJ (2006) Coral-based climate variability in the Western Pacific warm pool since 1867. J Geophys Res 111:C11006. doi:10.1029/2005JC003243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner NA, DE Parker, Horton EB, Foll CK, Alexer LV, Powell DP, Kent EC, Kaplan A (2003) Global analyses of SST, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J Geophys Res 108:4407. doi:10.1029/2002JD002670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reason CJC (2000) Multidecadal climate variability in the subtropics/mid-latitudes of the southern hemisphere oceans. Tellus 25:203–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds RW, Rayner NA, Smith TM, Stokes DC, Wang W (2002) An improved in situ and satellite SST analysis for climate. J Clim 15:1609–1625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrag DP (1999) Rapid analysis of high-precision Sr/Ca ratios in corals and other marine carbonates. Paleoceanography 14:97–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheppard CRC, Seaward MRD, Klaus R, Topp JMW (1999) The Chagos Archipelago: an introduction. In: Sheppard CRC, Seaward MRD (eds) Ecology of the Chagos Archipelago. The Linnean Society Occasional Publications, Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing, Otley, pp 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair DJ, Williams B, Risk M (2006) A biological origin for climate signals in corals-trace element “vital effects” are ubiquitous in Scleractinian coral skeletons. Geophys Res Lett 33:L17707. doi:10.1029/2006GL027183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith TM, Reynolds RW (2004) Improved extended reconstruction of SST (1854–1997). J Clim 17:2466–2477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spalding MD, Ravilious C, Green EP (2001) World atlas of coral reefs. Prepared at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephans CL, Quinn TM, Taylor FW, Correge T (2004) Assessing the reproducibility of coral-based climate records. Geophys Res Lett 31:L18210. doi:10.1029/2004GL020343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strom A, Francis RC, Mantua NJ, Miles EL, Peterson DL (2004) North Pacific climate recorded in growth rings of geoduck clams: a new tool for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Geophys Res Lett 31:L06206. doi:10.1029/2004GL019440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swart PK, Elderfield H, Greaves MJ (2002) A high-resolution calibration of Sr/Ca thermometry using the Caribbean coral Montastrea annularis. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 3:8402. doi:10.1029/2002GC000306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timm O, Pfeiffer M, Dullo WC (2005) Nonstationary ENSO-precipitation teleconnection over the equatorial Indian Ocean documented in a coral from the Chagos Archipelago. Geophys Res Lett 32:L072701. doi:10.1029/2004GL021738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trenberth KE (1997) The definition of El Niño. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:2771–2777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tudhope AW, Chilcott CP, McCulloch MT, Cook ER, Chappel RM, Ellam RM, Lea DW, Lough JM, Shimmield GB (2001) Variability in the El Niño–southern oscillation through a glacial–interglacial cycle. Science 291:1511–1517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Winter A, Oba T (2001) Seasonal changes in sea surface temperature and salinity during the Little Ice Age in the Caribbean Sea deduced from Mg/Ca and 18O/16O ratios in corals. Mar Geol 173:21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster PJ, Yang S (1992) Monsoon and ENSO: selectively interactive systems. Q J R Meteorol Soc 118:877–926

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson R, Tudhope AW, Brohan P, Briffa K, Osborn T, Tett S (2006) Two-hundred-fifty years of reconstructed and modeled tropical temperatures. J Geophys Res 111:C10007. doi:10.1029/2005JC003188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff SD, Diaz H, Elms JD, Worley SJ (1998) COADS Release 2 data and metadata enhancements for improvements of marine surface flux fields. Phys Chem Earth 23:517–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zinke J, Dullo WC, Heiss GA, Eisenhauer A (2004) ENSO and Indian Ocean subtropical dipole variability is recorded in a coral record off southwest Madagascar for the period 1659 to 1995. Earth Planet Sci Lett 228:177–194. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.09.028

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zinke J, Pfeiffer M, Timm O, Dullo WC, Davies GR (2005) Atmosphere–ocean dynamics in the Western Indian Ocean recorded in corals. Philos Trans R Soc A 363:121–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the members of the 1996 “Friends of the Chagos” expedition for their help during the field campaign. Karin Kießling provided laboratory assistance for carrying out the Sr/Ca analysis. Oliver Timm and Sri Yudawati Cahyarini provided many helpful comments and discussions. This research was supported by the German Science Foundation (Leibniz Award to Prof. Christian Dullo and SFB 460, project B1). We thank Thomas Felis and Eberhard Gischler for providing very constructive reviews.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institut für Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Miriam Pfeiffer & Wolf-Christian Dullo

  2. Department of Paleoclimatology and Paleoecology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, FALW, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jens Zinke

  3. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Ludewig-Meyn-Strasse 10, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Dieter Garbe-Schönberg

  4. Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Universität Köln, Zülpicherstr. 49a/b, 50674, Cologne, Germany

    Miriam Pfeiffer

Authors
  1. Miriam Pfeiffer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wolf-Christian Dullo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jens Zinke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dieter Garbe-Schönberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miriam Pfeiffer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pfeiffer, M., Dullo, WC., Zinke, J. et al. Three monthly coral Sr/Ca records from the Chagos Archipelago covering the period of 1950–1995 A.D.: reproducibility and implications for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 53–66 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0326-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0326-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation