[1] The Sr/Ca ratio of coral aragonite is used to reconstruct past sea surface temperature (SST). Twentyone laboratories took part in an interlaboratory study of coral Sr/Ca measurements. Results show interlaboratory bias can be significant, and in the extreme case could result in a range in SST estimates of 7 C. However, most of the data fall within a narrower range and the Porites coral reference material JCp-1 is now characterized well enough to have a certified Sr/Ca value of 8.838 mmol/mol with an expanded uncertainty of 0.089 mmol/mol following International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG) guidelines. This uncertainty, at the 95% confidence level, equates to 1.5 C for SST estimates using Porites, so is approaching fitness for purpose. The comparable median within laboratory error is <0.5 C. This difference in uncertainties illustrates the interlaboratory bias component that should be reduced through the use of reference materials like the JCp-1. There are many potential sources contributing to biases in comparative methods but traces of Sr in Ca standards and uncertainties in reference solution composition can account for half of the combined uncertainty. Consensus values that fulfil the requirements to be certified values were also obtained for Mg/Ca in JCp-1 and for Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the JCt-1 giant clam reference material. Reference values with variable fitness for purpose have also been obtained for Li/Ca, B/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca in both reference materials. In future, studies reporting coral element/Ca data should also report the average value obtained for a reference material such as the JCp-1.

High‐resolution radiocarbon (14C) analyses on a coral core extracted from Guam, a western tropical Pacific island, revealed a series of early bomb‐produced 14C spikes. The typical marine bomb 14C signal—phase lagged and attenuated relative to atmospheric records—is present in the coral and is consistent with other regional coral records. However, 14C levels well above what can be attributed to air‐sea diffusion alone punctuate this pattern. This anomaly was observed in other Indo‐Pacific coral records, but the Guam record is unmatched in magnitude and temporal resolution. The Guam coral Δ14C record provided three spikes in 1954–1955, 1956–1957, and 1958–1959 that are superimposed on a normal 14C record. Relative to mean prebomb levels, the first peak rises an incredible ∼700‰ and remained elevated for ∼1.2 years. A follow up assay with finer resolution increased the peak by ∼300‰. Subsequent spikes were less intense with a rise of ∼35 and ∼70‰. Each can be linked to thermonuclear testing in the Pacific Proving Grounds at Bikini and Enewetak atolls in Operations Castle (1954), Redwing (1956), and Hardtack I (1958). These 14C signals can be explained by vaporization of coral reef material in the nuclear fireball, coupled with neutron activation of atmospheric nitrogen (14C production), and subsequent absorption of 14CO2 to form particulate carbonates of close‐in fallout. The lag time in reaching Guam and other coral records abroad was tied to ocean surface currents and modeling provided validation of 14C arrival observations.

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The early last glacial termination was characterized by intense North Atlantic cooling and weak overturning circulation. This interval between similar to 18,000 and 14,600 years ago, known as Heinrich Stadial 1, was accompanied by a disruption of global climate and has been suggested as a key factor for the termination. However, the response of interannual climate variability in the tropical Pacific (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) to Heinrich Stadial 1 is poorly understood. Here we use Sr/Ca in a fossil Tahiti coral to reconstruct tropical South Pacific sea surface temperature around 15,000 years ago at monthly resolution. Unlike today, interannual South Pacific sea surface temperature variability at typical El Niño-Southern Oscillation periods was pronounced at Tahiti. Our results indicate that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation was active during Heinrich Stadial 1, consistent with climate model simulations of enhanced El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability at that time. Furthermore, a greater El Niño-Southern Oscillation influence in the South Pacific during Heinrich Stadial 1 is suggested, resulting from a southward expansion or shift of El Niño-Southern Oscillation sea surface temperature anomalies

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[1] We present a monthly resolved, 213-year stable isotope time series from a coral from Guam (13°N, 145°E), which is located on the northern edge of the western Pacific warm pool. Oxygen isotopic composition of the coral skeleton (d 18 O coral ) shows seasonal, interannual, and decadal variability, which documents significant oceanographic changes related to thermal and hydrologic variations in this region. The d