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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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  1. Miriam Pfeiffer
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Correspondence to Miriam Pfeiffer.

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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

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