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

2. \ P ALEOCLIMATE P ROXY = – 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…” W HAT IS A C LIMATE P ROXY ? Thomas Cronin; USGS

3. \ E XAMPLES OF P ALEOCLIMATE P ROXIES http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/image/collage/paleoproxycollage. jpg El NiÑO Southern OSCILLATION

4. \ 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 W HAT C AN C ORALS T ELL U S ? Thomas Cronin; USGS

5. \ El Niño vs. Normal E L N IÑO S OUTHERN O SCILLATION (ENSO) http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

6. \ La Niña vs. Normal E L N IÑO S OUTHERN O SCILLATION (ENSO) http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

7. \ El Niño vs. La Niña E L N IÑO S OUTHERN O SCILLATION (ENSO) http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

8. \ El Niño vs. La Niña E L N IÑO S OUTHERN O SCILLATION (ENSO) http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

9. \ El Niño vs. La Niña E L N IÑO S OUTHERN O SCILLATION (ENSO) http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html

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

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

12. \ C ORALS & ENSO: S TUDY A REA IN P APUA N EW G UINEA http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/eln/def.rxml

13. \ Use δ 18 O 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 δ 18 O recorded in corals and modern El Nino events – Use this relationship to reconstruct El Nino events in the “paleo record” C ORALS & ENSO: T HE A CTIVITY

14. \ (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. C ORALS & ENSO: T HE A CTIVITY

15. \ PALEO: C ORALS & ENSO *

16. \ ENSO & C ORALS : A NCIENT C ORALS FROM H UON P ENINSULA, P APUA N EW G UINEA Photo credit: Prof. Sandy Tudhope Raised Coral Reef Terraces

17. \ (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. C ORALS & ENSO: T HE A CTIVITY

18. \ M ODERN : C ORALS & ENSO http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/tudho pe2001/tudhope.html *

19. \ This presentation can be found at the following website: http://www.uwpcc.washington.edu/outreach/tertiary.jsp?entity=NASA&action=GetE ntity&title=NASA/UWHS%20Climate%20Science http://www.uwpcc.washington.edu/outreach/tertiary.jsp?entity=NASA&action=GetE ntity&title=NASA/UWHS%20Climate%20Science Or, http://tinyurl.com/oqo8ml7http://tinyurl.com/oqo8ml7 *Timeseries presented, here, are sourced from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/tudhope2001/tudhope.html and are based on published work by Tudhope et al. 2001. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/tudhope2001/tudhope.html 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