Variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation Through a Glacial-Interglacial Cycle

Tudhope, Alexander W.; Chilcott, Colin P.; McCulloch, Malcolm T.; Cook, Edward R.; Chappell, John; Ellam, Robert M.; Lea, David W.; Lough, Janice; Shimmield, Graham

doi:10.1126/science.1057969

Cited by 850 publications

(613 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This may reflect difficulties associated with the interpretation of ENSO variability from records that do not resolve interannual variability, or different aspects or timescales of ENSO captured by the individual reconstructions. In contrast, seasonally resolved records from fossil shallow-water corals were successfully used to reconstruct interannual ENSO variability in the tropical Pacific during the last glacial 9 , but represent short intervals older than 38,000 years only. A few coral records are available for intervals of the last glacial termination [10][11][12][13][14] , but are too short to document significant interannual ENSO variability.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pronounced interannual variability in tropical South Pacific temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 1

et al. 2012

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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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confidence: 99%

Pronounced interannual variability in tropical South Pacific temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 1

et al. 2012

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“…1). Compared to the present, this interval was characterized by increased humidity (Fox and Strecker 1991;van der Hammen and Absy 1994;Wirrmann and Mourguiart 1995;Ledru et al 1996;Godfrey et al 1997;Turcq et al 1997;Haselton et al 2002) and a stronger ENSO influence Beaufort et al 2001;Tudhope et al 2001) (Fig. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene Climate Change and Erosion in the Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina

Trauth¹,

Bookhagen²,

Müller³

et al. 2003

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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Present erosion and sediment flux in the semiarid intramontane Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina, are compared with conditions during a period of wetter and more variable climate at about 30,000 14 C yr ago. The results suggest that the influence of climate change on the overall erosional sediment budget is significant, mainly because of a change in the erosion regime coupled with an increase in mass movements. The most effective mechanism to increase landslide activity in this environment is a highly variable climate on interannual timescales. In contrast, Quaternary changes in erosional budgets due to variations in moisture regimes is small in the Santa Maria Basin. Because the magnitude of a potential increase in background erosion as well as enhanced landsliding is smaller than typical levels of uncertainty of erosional budgets for such large basins, it is not likely that climate-driven erosional unloading can influence tectonic style and rates in this semiarid environment on time scales of several thousands to a few tens of thousands of years.

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“…This, however, is inconsistent with indications of widespread Middle Holocene aridity in western North America. Instead, evidence for relatively stable decadal-scale climate variability in Site 893A/B appears to be more consistent with weaker ENSO activity during the Middle Holocene (Sandweiss et al, 1996(Sandweiss et al, , 1997(Sandweiss et al, , 2001Overpeck and Webb, 2000;Tudhope et al, 2001;Koutavas et al, 2006). If so, it follows that generally warmer SSTs at the millennial-scale are not necessarily accompanied by more intense or frequent ENSO activity.…”

Section: Associated Terrestrial Climate Changesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Middle Holocene climate change and human population dispersal in western North America

Kennett

Culleton

Kennett

et al. 2007

Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics

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Available climate records in western North America (7000-3800 cal yr BP) indicate a severe dry interval between 6300 and 4800 cal yr BP embedded within a generally warm and dry Middle Holocene. Dry conditions in western North America between 6300 and 4800 cal yr BP correlate with cold to moderate sea-surface temperatures (SST) and relatively high-marine productivity along the Southern California Coast evident in Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Core 893A/B (Santa Barbara Basin). Based on archeological, linguistic, and genetic data, we argue for a movement of Uto-Aztecan people from western desert environments to the Southern California Coast, including the southern Channel Islands, and into portions of the Central Valley by at least 5500-4500 cal yr BP. We hypothesize that population dispersal from the desert interior was primarily in response to severe and prolonged drought and that people moved selectively to coastal and aquatic habitats because of the ameliorated effects of drought and their overall productivity.

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Variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation Through a Glacial-Interglacial Cycle

Cited by 850 publications

References 52 publications

Pronounced interannual variability in tropical South Pacific temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 1

Pronounced interannual variability in tropical South Pacific temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 1

Late Pleistocene Climate Change and Erosion in the Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina

Middle Holocene climate change and human population dispersal in western North America

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