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PALEOCLIMATE PROXIES & EL NIÑO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION

UWHS Atmospheric Sciences 211 May 2013 Workshop . PALEOCLIMATE PROXIES & EL NIÑO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION. Megan F. Gambs UW Oceanography mfgambs@uw.edu. What is a Climate Proxy?. Paleoclimate Proxy = any “ biological , physical , or chemical measurement made in: sediments,

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PALEOCLIMATE PROXIES & EL NIÑO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION

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  1. UWHS Atmospheric Sciences 211 May 2013 Workshop PALEOCLIMATE PROXIES & EL NIÑO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION Megan F. Gambs UW Oceanography mfgambs@uw.edu

  2. What is a Climate Proxy? • Paleoclimate Proxy = • any “biological, physical, or chemical measurement made in: • sediments, • fossil shells, • ice cores, • trapped air, • speleothems, • corals, and other archives • that serve as surrogates for climate parameters…” Thomas Cronin; USGS

  3. Examples of Paleoclimate Proxies El NiÑO Southern OSCILLATION http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/image/collage/paleoproxycollage.jpg

  4. What Can Corals Tell Us? • Coral Skeletons are made of CaCO3. • We can analyze two ratios: • Oxygen isotopes (16-O to 18-O) • Tells us about water temperature • Ratio of Magnesium to Calcium (Mg/Ca) • Tells us about salinity • This gives information about precipitation Thomas Cronin; USGS

  5. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) • El Niño vs. Normal http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

  6. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) • La Niña vs. Normal http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

  7. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) • El Niño vs. La Niña http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

  8. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) • El Niño vs. La Niña http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

  9. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) • El Niño vs. La Niña http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

  10. Corals & ENSO: Introduction • How do corals help with our understanding of ENSO? Prof. Sandy Tudhope; University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences

  11. “coring” a living Porites coral Photo credits: USGS (above ), A. Tudhope (right)

  12. Corals & ENSO: Study Area in Papua New Guinea http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/eln/def.rxml

  13. Corals & ENSO: The Activity • Use δ18O records extracted from corals, as published in Science (Tudhope et al. 2001) • Employ Excel to create plots of properties through time, from the corals • Goal: illustrate the relationship between δ18O recorded in corals and modern El Nino events • Use this relationship to reconstruct El Nino events in the “paleo record”

  14. Corals & ENSO: The Activity • (1) Modern Corals • Compare the living coral data to modern SST measurements • (2) Ancient Corals • Now, that you’ve proved that del18O records track ENSO events (variations in precipitation and temperature), study ENSO back in time.

  15. PALEO: Corals & ENSO *

  16. ENSO & Corals: Ancient Coralsfrom Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea Raised Coral Reef Terraces Photo credit: Prof. Sandy Tudhope

  17. Corals & ENSO: The Activity • (1) Modern Corals • Compare the living coral data to modern SST measurements • (2) Ancient Corals • Now, that you’ve proved that del18O records track ENSO events (variations in precipitation and temperature), study ENSO back in time.

  18. Modern: Corals & ENSO http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/tudhope2001/tudhope.html *

  19. This presentation can be found at the following website: http://www.uwpcc.washington.edu/outreach/tertiary.jsp?entity=NASA&action=GetEntity&title=NASA/UWHS%20Climate%20Science Or, http://tinyurl.com/oqo8ml7 • *Timeseries presented, here, are sourced from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/tudhope2001/tudhope.htmland are based on published work by Tudhope et al. 2001. • Alexander W. Tudhope, Colin P. Chilcott, Malcolm T. McCulloch, Edward R. Cook, John Chappell, Robert M. Ellam, David W. Lea, Janice M. Lough, and Graham B. Shimmield.Variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation Through a Glacial-Interglacial Cycle. Science, v.291(5508), pp 1511-1517, February 23, 2001

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