SISAL: Bringing Added Value to Speleothem Research

Comas-Bru, Laia; Harrison, Sandy P.

doi:10.3390/quat2010007

Cited by 26 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Speleothems, or secondary cave carbonates, have become essential tools for the reconstruction of past terrestrial climate variability [1]. Speleothem oxygen isotope records (hereafter δ 18 O spel ) in particular have provided important information about changes in precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric circulation over low and middle latitude regions throughout the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Speleothem oxygen isotope records (hereafter δ 18 O spel ) in particular have provided important information about changes in precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric circulation over low and middle latitude regions throughout the world. The Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) project and database aims to compile published speleothem data globally to facilitate paleoclimate reconstructions and the evaluation of climate models [1]. The first version of the database (SISAL_v1) contains 376 speleothem records [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This underscores the need to improve spatial and temporal coverage of speleothem records across this climatically variable region.Quaternary 2019, 2, 5 2 of 33 original authors. The challenges found while compiling such data are discussed in [1]. The database archives speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope data, detailed chronologic and analytical information, and important metadata for each cave site and speleothem such as bedrock geology, overburden thickness, and whether cave monitoring was conducted, among other pieces of information that are essential for working with and interpreting speleothem isotope records.Of the 376 records included in SISAL_v1, 42 are from cave sites in Central and North America and the Caribbean [2].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quaternary 2019, 2, 5 2 of 33 original authors. The challenges found while compiling such data are discussed in [1]. The database archives speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope data, detailed chronologic and analytical information, and important metadata for each cave site and speleothem such as bedrock geology, overburden thickness, and whether cave monitoring was conducted, among other pieces of information that are essential for working with and interpreting speleothem isotope records.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

et al. 2019

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Speleothem oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean, Central, and North America reveal climatic controls that include orbital variation, deglacial forcing related to ocean circulation and ice sheet retreat, and the influence of local and remote sea surface temperature variations. Here, we review these records and the global climate teleconnections they suggest following the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database. We find that low-latitude records generally reflect changes in precipitation, whereas higher latitude records are sensitive to temperature and moisture source variability. Tropical records suggest precipitation variability is forced by orbital precession and North Atlantic Ocean circulation driven changes in atmospheric convection on long timescales, and tropical sea surface temperature variations on short timescales. On millennial timescales, precipitation seasonality in southwestern North America is related to North Atlantic climate variability. Great Basin speleothem records are closely linked with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. Although speleothems have revealed these critical global climate teleconnections, the paucity of continuous records precludes our ability to investigate climate drivers from the whole of Central and North America for the Pleistocene through modern. This underscores the need to improve spatial and temporal coverage of speleothem records across this climatically variable region.Quaternary 2019, 2, 5 2 of 33 original authors. The challenges found while compiling such data are discussed in [1]. The database archives speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope data, detailed chronologic and analytical information, and important metadata for each cave site and speleothem such as bedrock geology, overburden thickness, and whether cave monitoring was conducted, among other pieces of information that are essential for working with and interpreting speleothem isotope records.Of the 376 records included in SISAL_v1, 42 are from cave sites in Central and North America and the Caribbean [2]. These records cover a vast region, spanning the tropics to mid-latitudes and bordering two oceans, with climate controls that are highly variable both in the modern and through time. Speleothem records from this region have revealed critical climate teleconnections between the polar regions, the tropics, and the mid-latitudes at decadal to orbital timescales [3][4][5][6]. These records have provided evidence for the effects of climate variability on ancient civilizations [7-9], and contributed toward open questions and key debates regarding Earth's climate system [3,10]. Here, we discuss the spatial and temporal coverage of North and Central American and Caribbean speleothem records included in SISAL_v1 and the predominant controls on δ 18 O spel variability in each region. We review the most salient discoveries arising from regional records included in SISAL_v1 and conduct a statistical analysis to underscore observed spatial relationships. O...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

et al. 2019

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“…As part of this initiative, a template was created, outlining the necessary metadata for speleothem‐based records (Atsawawaranunt et al, ). This template (Comas‐Bru & Harrison, ) forms the backbone of properties applicable to speleothems‐based records presented here.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PaCTS 1.0: A Crowdsourced Reporting Standard for Paleoclimate Data

Khider

Emile‐Geay

McKay

et al. 2019

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The progress of science is tied to the standardization of measurements, instruments, and data. This is especially true in the Big Data age, where analyzing large data volumes critically hinges on the data being standardized. Accordingly, the lack of community‐sanctioned data standards in paleoclimatology has largely precluded the benefits of Big Data advances in the field. Building upon recent efforts to standardize the format and terminology of paleoclimate data, this article describes the Paleoclimate Community reporTing Standard (PaCTS), a crowdsourced reporting standard for such data. PaCTS captures which information should be included when reporting paleoclimate data, with the goal of maximizing the reuse value of paleoclimate data sets, particularly for synthesis work and comparison to climate model simulations. Initiated by the LinkedEarth project, the process to elicit a reporting standard involved an international workshop in 2016, various forms of digital community engagement over the next few years, and grassroots working groups. Participants in this process identified important properties across paleoclimate archives, in addition to the reporting of uncertainties and chronologies; they also identified archive‐specific properties and distinguished reporting standards for new versus legacy data sets. This work shows that at least 135 respondents overwhelmingly support a drastic increase in the amount of metadata accompanying paleoclimate data sets. Since such goals are at odds with present practices, we discuss a transparent path toward implementing or revising these recommendations in the near future, using both bottom‐up and top‐down approaches.

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Speleothems

Braun,

Latham

2023

Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

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SISAL: Bringing Added Value to Speleothem Research

Cited by 26 publications

References 72 publications

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

PaCTS 1.0: A Crowdsourced Reporting Standard for Paleoclimate Data

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