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Propagating decadal sea surface temperature signal identified in modern proxy records of the tropical Pacific

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Abstract

Analysis of 86 years of multiple modern coral δ18O records in the tropical Pacific reveals a basin-scale decadal pattern of variability. Although coral δ18O records the effects of both temperature and seawater δ18O variability due to salinity effects, in practice, most of the records used here agree well with observations of sea surface temperature on longer timescales. These coral proxy records reveal strong variability near a 12-year period. Their relative phasing suggests a signal propagating from the southwestern subtropical Pacific to other regions. The results are consistent with recent studies based on instrumental data and with coupled climate model studies, in which advection of thermal anomalies leads to El Niño/Southern Oscillation-like variability on decadal timescales. Additionally, there is evidence for a significant shift in many of the time series, along with a decrease in the decadal variability, occurring in the early 1940s. Finally, the proxy records indicate the presence of strong teleconnections between the eastern tropical Pacific and high latitude climate.

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Notes

  1. We thank Gary Mitchum for drawing our attention to this.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge support from The University of Texas at Austin and Yonsei University, with additional support for CLH from the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation, and for RBS from NSF grant OCE 03-26515. SIA was supported by grant No. R01-2006-000-10441-0 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation and the Brain Korea 21 project. FWT has been supported by NSF Grants ATM 89-22114, ATM 95-03256, OCE 97-10454, OCE 04-02349 and NOAA Grant NA76GP0268. The data used in this study were provided by the Paleoclimatology Branch of the National Climatic Data Center. Kaplan SST was provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their website at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/. We also thank Charles Jackson, Faming Wang, Ping Chang, Terry Quinn, the participants of the American Geophysical Union Chapman conference on Tropical-Extratropical Climatic Teleconnections (February, 2005), and researchers at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) for many helpful discussions. Helpful feedback from Jim Zachos and others at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas, 4412 Spicewood Springs Rd #600, Austin, TX, 78759, USA

    Christina L. Holland, Robert B. Scott & Frederick W. Taylor

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, South Korea

    Soon-Il An

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  1. Christina L. Holland
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Correspondence to Christina L. Holland.

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Holland, C.L., Scott, R.B., An, SI. et al. Propagating decadal sea surface temperature signal identified in modern proxy records of the tropical Pacific. Clim Dyn 28, 163–179 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-006-0174-0

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