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Pacific Decadal Oscillation documented in a coral record of North Pacific winter temperature since 1873
Author(s) -
Felis Thomas,
Suzuki Atsushi,
Kuhnert Henning,
Rimbu Norel,
Kawahata Hodaka
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2010gl043572
Subject(s) - pacific decadal oscillation , extratropical cyclone , oceanography , climatology , sea surface temperature , north pacific high , environmental science , proxy (statistics) , geology , machine learning , computer science
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), the leading mode of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the extratropical North Pacific Ocean, has widespread impacts on precipitation in the Americas and marine fisheries in the North Pacific. However, marine proxy records with a temporal resolution that resolves interannual to interdecadal SST variability in the extratropical North Pacific are extremely rare. Here we demonstrate that the winter Sr/Ca and U/Ca records of an annually‐banded reef coral from the Ogasawara Islands in the western subtropical North Pacific are significantly correlated with the instrumental winter PDO index over the last century. The reconstruction of the PDO is further improved by combining the coral data with an existing eastern mid‐latitude North Pacific growth ring record of geoduck clams. The spatial correlations of this combined index with global climate fields suggest that SST proxy records from these locations provide potential for PDO reconstructions further back in time.