Intensification of the meridional temperature gradient in the Great Barrier Reef following the Last Glacial Maximum

Felis, Thomas; McGregor, Helen; Linsley, Braddock K.; Tudhope, Alexander W.; Gagan, Michael K.; Suzuki, Atsushi; Inoue, Mayuri; Thomas, Alexander L.; Esat, T. M.; Thompson, W. G.; Tiwari, Manish; Potts, D. C.; Mudelsee, Manfred; Yokoyama, Yūsuke; Webster, Jody M.

doi:10.1038/ncomms5102

Cited by 86 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

107

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The reconstruction of Sr/Ca-based SST seasonality is not affected by glacial/interglacial changes in the Sr content of seawater as a result of dissolution of shelf carbonates during glacial sea level low stands nor its residence time, which is on the order of millions of years (Stoll et al, 1999). These concerns typically affect reconstructions of absolute SST on these time scales (Kilbourne et al, 2004;Asami et al, 2013;Felis et al, 2012Felis et al, , 2014. Sr/Ca variations within D. strigosa have been successfully demonstrated to replicate Caribbean instrumental temperature trends during the past century (Hetzinger et al, 2006(Hetzinger et al, , 2010, highlighting the importance of site specific modern day records for the interpretation of palaeoclimatic reconstructions.…”

Section: E-mail Address: Wbrocas@marumde (Wm Brocas)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Last interglacial temperature seasonality reconstructed from tropical Atlantic corals

Brocas

Felis

Obert

et al. 2016

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Editor: M. Frank Keywords:coral Sr/Ca the last interglacial Caribbean climate sea surface temperature seasonality quasi-biennial to decadal variability Reconstructions of last interglacial (LIG, MIS 5e, ∼127-117 ka) climate offer insights into the natural response and variability of the climate system during a period partially analogous to future climate change scenarios. We present well preserved fossil corals (Diploria strigosa) recovered from the southern Caribbean island of Bonaire (Caribbean Netherlands). These have been precisely dated by the 230 Th/Umethod to between 130 and 120 ka ago. Annual banding of the coral skeleton enabled construction of time windows of monthly resolved strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) temperature proxy records. In conjunction with a previously published 118 ka coral record, our eight records of up to 37 years in length, cover a total of 105 years within the LIG period. From these, sea surface temperature (SST) seasonality and variability in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean is reconstructed. We detect similar to modern SST seasonality of ∼2.9 • C during the early (130 ka) and the late LIG (120-118 ka). However, within the mid-LIG, a significantly higher than modern SST seasonality of 4.9 • C (at 126 ka) and 4.1 • C (at 124 ka) is observed. These findings are supported by climate model simulations and are consistent with the evolving amplitude of orbitally induced changes in seasonality of insolation throughout the LIG, irrespective of wider climatic instabilities that characterised this period. The climate model simulations suggest that the SST seasonality changes documented in our LIG coral Sr/Ca records are representative of larger regions within the tropical North Atlantic. These simulations also suggest that the reconstructed SST seasonality increase during the mid-LIG is caused primarily by summer warming. A 124 ka old coral documents, for the first time, evidence of decadal SST variability in the tropical North Atlantic during the LIG, akin to that observed in modern instrumental records.

show abstract

Section: E-mail Address: Wbrocas@marumde (Wm Brocas)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Last interglacial temperature seasonality reconstructed from tropical Atlantic corals

Brocas

Felis

Obert

et al. 2016

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further geochemical assessment of six modern colonies from the lagoon and fore-reef slope at Heron Reef reveals that inter-colony variability in Acropora interbranch skeleton Sr/Ca ratios is high (Supplementary Figure 5-1). Such differences have been previously documented in corals [e.g., Felis et al, 2014;, including species of massive Porites commonly used for palaeoclimate reconstruction . These inter-colony offsets can, however, be eliminated by subtracting the mean from each individual record, generating anomaly plots of both coral Sr/Ca and instrumental water temperature ( Figure 5-4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Whilst reef cores have provided insights into sea level, reef growth, geomorphology and evolution [e.g., Ladd and Schlanger, 1960;Ladd et al, 1970;Lincoln and Schlanger, 1987;Webb et al, 2016], reef coring techniques remain relatively underutilized in terms of coral geochemistry-based environmental reconstructions for the Holocene. However, coring of submerged reefs, such as Integrated Ocean Drilling Program legs 310 and 325, have provided Holocene and deglacial corals for paleoclimate studies [Asami et al, 2009;Felis et al, 2014;Inoue et al, 2010] and deeper coring from reef flats, as documented here, may also provide appropriate corals for analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…However, the inconsistent occurrence of massive Porites colonies necessitates the use of additional genera for climate reconstructions. Developments in the use of alternate coral genera as paleoenvironmental indicators have seen recent advances [e.g., DeLong et al, 2014;Felis et al, 2014;, including the potential use of inter-branch skeleton in Acropora , a highly abundant coral genus in many Indo-Pacific reef cores Humblet et al, 2015;Shirai et al, 2008] with significant volumes recovered in IODP Expeditions 310, Tahiti Sea Level [Camoin et al, 2007], and 325, Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes . recently reported that the inter-branch skeleton of corymbose Acropora colonies (i.e., colonies with branches that initiate from a central location and extend to a common level ) does not display the significant levels of secondary skeletal thickening typically associated with branches, which previously prevented the use of Acropora in high resolution geochemical climate 154 reconstructions Shirai et al, 2008].…”

Section: Reef Coring Techniques Such As Those Employed By the Internmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Monthly resolved Sr/Ca anomalies were regressed against the corresponding seasonal anomalies of in situ derived water temperature data using Matlab© [Thirumalai et al, 2011] Felis et al, 2014;.…”

Section: Calibration Of Geochemical Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reef cores as records of Holocene water temperatures of the southern Great Barrier Reef: Geochemical analysis of traditional (Porites) and non-traditional (Acropora) reef building corals

Sadler¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to accurately predict future climate variations induced by natural and anthropogenic forcings, we require a detailed understanding of the Earth's climate system. With such temporally limited instrumental records, proxy-based reconstructions are an invaluable source of climate information. Current paleoclimate databases indicate a lack of records representing the southern hemisphere and tropics; key regions that can be represented by high resolution, coral geochemistry-based climate reconstructions.Reef coring techniques allow the recovery of significant proportions of coral material from throughout the Holocene, Pleistocene and beyond. Given the high species diversity of IndoPacific coral reefs, the presence of massive Porites commonly used for climate reconstruction is likely to be limited in reef cores. Corymbose Acropora, however, displays a high abundance in modern and fossil reef records and thus could act as a major source of new climate information from the Earth's recent history.Previous investigations of Acropora geochemistry have focused on branches, with significant levels of secondary thickening smoothing environmental signals otherwise recorded by the Sr/Ca ratio paleothermometer. This project investigates the potential of Acropora interbranch skeleton as a climate archive, following the identification of annual density banding patterns in computed tomography scans. Scanning electron microscopy based documentation of structure and growth patterns reveal that inter-branch skeleton is atypical for Acropora.Low linear extension rates, a simplified skeletal structure with limited secondary aragonite deposition, approximately horizontal density bands and seasonal cyclicity in Sr/Ca ratios bear a greater resemblance to massive corals such as Porites. These observations, combined with a high abundance in past and present Indo-Pacific reefs, suggest that inter-branch skeletal growth in Acropora may prove to be a valuable source of untapped paleoclimate information.A site-specific calibration for Acropora inter-branch skeleton Sr/Ca ratios to water temperature was conducted using modern corymbose Acropora colonies and concomitant instrumental water temperature records from the lagoon and fore-reef slope of Heron Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Large inter-colony differences in Sr/Ca ratios were observed in the modern cores, suggesting that inter-branch skeleton may not be a suitable archive for absolute temperature reconstruction. Normalisation of each Sr/Ca record to the corresponding core mean does, however, remove these inter-colony differences and allows the reconstruction of the seasonal water temperature amplitude with a sensitivity of −0.05 ii mmol/mol/°C. Application of the resulting transfer equation to the modern inter-branch skeleton Sr/Ca record successfully identified the greater seasonal temperature range of the lagoon compared to the adjacent reef slope. A site-specific calibration also was completed for southern GBR Porites at Heron Reef using the reef slope water te...

show abstract

Acropora interbranch skeleton Sr/Ca ratios: Evaluation of a potential new high‐resolution paleothermometer

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The majority of coral geochemistry-based paleoclimate reconstructions in the Indo-Pacific are conducted on selectively cored colonies of massive Porites. This restriction to a single genus may make it difficult to amass the required paleoclimate data for studies that require deep reef coring techniques. Acropora, however, is a highly abundant coral genus in both modern and fossil reef systems and displays potential as a novel climate archive. Here we present a calibration study for Sr/Ca ratios recovered from interbranch skeleton in corymbose Acropora colonies from Heron Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef. Significant intercolony differences in absolute Sr/Ca ratios were normalized by producing anomaly plots of both coral geochemistry and instrumental water temperature records. Weighted linear regression of these anomalies from the lagoon and fore-reef slope provide a sensitivity of À0.05 mmol/mol°C À1 , with a correlation coefficient (r 2 = 0.65) comparable to those of genera currently used in paleoclimate reconstructions. Reconstructions of lagoon and reef slope mean seasonality in water temperature accurately identify the greater seasonal amplitude observed in the lagoon of Heron Reef. A longer calibration period is, however, required for reliable reconstructions of annual mean water temperatures.

show abstract

Intensification of the meridional temperature gradient in the Great Barrier Reef following the Last Glacial Maximum

Cited by 86 publications

References 61 publications

Last interglacial temperature seasonality reconstructed from tropical Atlantic corals

Last interglacial temperature seasonality reconstructed from tropical Atlantic corals

Reef cores as records of Holocene water temperatures of the southern Great Barrier Reef: Geochemical analysis of traditional (Porites) and non-traditional (Acropora) reef building corals

Acropora interbranch skeleton Sr/Ca ratios: Evaluation of a potential new high‐resolution paleothermometer

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About