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Detailed Reference Information |
Goodkin, N.F., Hughen, K.A., Cohen, A.L. and Smith, S.R. (2005). Record of Little Ice Age sea surface temperatures at Bermuda using a growth-dependent calibration of coral Sr/Ca. Paleoceanography 20: doi: 10.1029/2005PA001140. issn: 0883-8305. |
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Strontium to calcium ratios (Sr/Ca) are reported for a massive brain coral Diploria labyrinthiformis collected from the south shore of Bermuda and are strongly correlated with both sea surface temperature (SST) and mean annual skeletal growth rate. High Sr/Ca ratios correspond with cold SSTs and slow skeletal growth rate and vice versa. We provide a quantitative calibration of Sr/Ca to extension rate and SST along the axis of maximum growth and derive a growth-dependent Sr/Ca--SST calibration equation to reconstruct western subtropical North Atlantic SSTs for the past 223 years. When the influence of growth rate is excluded from the calibration, Sr/Ca ratios yield SSTs that are too cold during cool anomalies and too warm during warm anomalies. Toward the end of the Little Ice Age (~1850), SST changes derived using a calibration that is not growth-dependent are exaggerated by a factor of 2 relative to those from the growth-corrected model that yields SSTs ~1.5¿C cooler than today. Our results indicate that incorporation of growth rate effects into coral Sr/Ca calibrations may improve the accuracy of SSTs derived from living and fossil corals. |
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BACKGROUND DATA FILES |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Geochemistry, Marine geochemistry (4835, 4845, 4850), Global Change, Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513), Paleoceanography, Corals, Paleoceanography, Sea surface temperature, SST, coral Sr/Ca, growth rate |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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