El Niño–Southern Oscillation extrema in the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum

Koutavas, A.; Joanides, Stephan

doi:10.1029/2012pa002378

Cited by 268 publications

(364 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

318

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…3a,g). Contrast between March and September solar insolation at the equator also closely follows the pattern of changes in ENSO variability 15 supporting the hypothesis by Clement et al 13 However, recent complex coupled general circulation experiments 16 questioned these results. The intermediate complexity model (that is, the Cane and Zebiak model) used in the study by Clement et al 13 requires prescribed, but poorly known, ENSO mean state and therefore could lead to potential modelling artefacts 16 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Palaeoclimate reconstructions reveal a strong link between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Tropical Pacific mean state

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most important components of the global climate system, but its potential response to an anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO 2 remains largely unknown. One of the major limitations in ENSO prediction is our poor understanding of the relationship between ENSO variability and long-term changes in Tropical Pacific oceanography. Here we investigate this relationship using palaeorecords derived from the geochemistry of planktonic foraminifera. Our results indicate a strong negative correlation between ENSO variability and zonal gradient of sea-surface temperatures across the Tropical Pacific during the last 22 ky. This strong correlation implies a mechanistic link that tightly couples zonal sea-surface temperature gradient and ENSO variability during large climate changes and provides a unique insight into potential ENSO evolution in the future by suggesting enhanced ENSO variability under a global warming scenario.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Palaeoclimate reconstructions reveal a strong link between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Tropical Pacific mean state

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Hiatussupporting

confidence: 80%

“…3), corroborating existing records of high oceanic productivity in the TEP from ∼7,000-5,000 cal yr BP (refs 19,20). Our findings are consistent with a persistent, La Niña-like state in the tropical Pacific during the mid-Holocene [19][20][21] .Sea temperatures reconstructed from Sr/Ca reflect warming from ∼19 • C at ∼5,100 cal yr BP to ∼25.5 • C at ∼4,600 cal yr BP (Fig. 3a), which may be related to the decline in upwelling during that time (Fig.…”

supporting

confidence: 78%

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change is now the leading cause of coral-reef degradation and is altering the adaptive landscape of coral populations 1,2 . Increasing sea temperatures and declining carbonate saturation states are inhibiting short-term rates of coral calcification, carbonate precipitation and submarine cementation [3][4][5] . A critical challenge to coral-reef conservation is understanding the mechanisms by which environmental perturbations scale up to influence long-term rates of reef-framework construction and ecosystem function 6,7 . Here we reconstruct climatic and oceanographic variability using corals sampled from a 6,750-year core from Pacific Panamá. Simultaneous reconstructions of coral palaeophysiology and reef accretion allowed us to identify the climatic and biotic thresholds associated with a 2,500-year hiatus in vertical accretion beginning ∼4,100 years ago 8 . Stronger upwelling, cooler sea temperatures and greater precipitation-indicators of La Niña-like conditions-were closely associated with abrupt reef shutdown. The physiological condition of the corals deteriorated at the onset of the hiatus, corroborating theoretical predictions that the tipping points of radical ecosystem transitions should be manifested sublethally in the biotic constituents 9 . Future climate change could cause similar threshold behaviours, leading to another shutdown in reef development in the tropical eastern Pacific.Climatic and oceanographic variability have played a dominant role in the development of reefs throughout the Phanerozoic eon 10 , and the recent past is no exception. In Panamá and several other locations in the Pacific, coral reefs stopped accreting vertically for 2,500 years, beginning ∼4,100 cal yr BP (ref. 8; calibrated 14 C calendar years before 1950; Fig. 1a). Correlations with regional palaeoclimate proxies suggest that enhanced variability of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was the ultimate cause of reef shutdown in the tropical eastern Pacific 8 (TEP). Climatic shifts at that time led to environmental and cultural impacts on a global scale 11,12 .In this study we investigated the long-term impacts of environmental variability on coral physiology and reef development in the TEP to ascertain the climatic, oceanographic and biotic controls on ecosystem state in the past. We quantified the range of environmental conditions that corals experienced during the past ∼6,750 years to determine whether significant changes in climate or oceanography were associated with changes in coral physiology or reef accretion. We then evaluated the environmental and physiological thresholds that characterized the catastrophic phase shift to the hiatus.In Pacific Panamá, El Niño-like periods are characterized by a warm, dry climate and a reduction in seasonal upwelling. Those conditions are reversed during La Niña-like periods (Supplementary Discussion and Supplementary Fig. 1). Contemporary environmental variability is high at Contadora Island, a site in Pacific Panamá that is exposed to intense seasonal upwelling and ...

show abstract

“…These authors suggested that the d 18 O c range reflected reduced salinities in the upper water column from mixing with a proximate source of 18 O-depleted glacial meltwater. Such studies demonstrate that an additional dimension of hydrographic information can be recovered when a suite of individual foraminifer shells are analyzed (Billups and Spero, 1996;Ford et al, 2015;Koutavas et al, 2006;Koutavas and Joanides, 2012;Rustic et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen isotope geochemistry of Laurentide ice-sheet meltwater across Termination I

Vetter

Spero

Eggins

et al. 2017

Quaternary Science Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tWe present a new method that quantifies the oxygen isotope geochemistry of Laurentide ice-sheet (LIS) meltwater across the last deglaciation, and reconstruct decadal-scale variations in the d 18 O of LIS meltwater entering the Gulf of Mexico between~18 and 11 ka. We employ a technique that combines laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) and oxygen isotope analyses on individual shells of the planktic values of Mississippi River discharge from discrete core intervals range from À22‰ to À38‰ VSMOW. These values suggest a dynamic melting history of different parts of the LIS, with potential contributions to Mississippi River outflow from both the low-elevation, southern margin of the LIS and high-elevation, high-latitude domes in the LIS interior that were transported to the ablation zone. Prior to~15.5 ka, the d 18 O water value of the Mississippi River was similar to that of regional precipitation or low-latitude LIS meltwater, but the Ba concentration in the Mississippi basin was affected by changes in weathering within the watershed, complicating Ba-salinity relationships in the Gulf of Mexico. After 13 ka, our data suggest Mississippi River outflow did not influence surface salinity above our Gulf of Mexico Orca Basin core site. Rather, we hypothesize that open ocean conditions prevailed as sea level rose and the paleoshoreline at the southern edge of North America retreated northward.

show abstract

El Niño–Southern Oscillation extrema in the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum

Cited by 268 publications

References 71 publications

Palaeoclimate reconstructions reveal a strong link between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Tropical Pacific mean state

Palaeoclimate reconstructions reveal a strong link between El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Tropical Pacific mean state

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

Oxygen isotope geochemistry of Laurentide ice-sheet meltwater across Termination I

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About