Title
Tropical pacific forcing of decadal SST variability in the western Indian ocean over the past two centuries
Author(s)
Cole, J.E.; Dunbar, R.B.; McClanahan, T.R.; Muthiga, N.A.
Published
2000
Publisher
Science
Abstract
A 194-year annual record of skeletal d18O from a coral growing at Malindi Kenya, preserves a history of sea surface temperature (SST) change that is coherent with instrumental and proxy records of tropical Pacific climate variability over interannual to decadal periods. This variability is superimposed on a warming of as much as 1.3°C since the early 1800s. These results suggest that the tropical Pacific imparts substantial decadal climate variability to the western Indian Ocean and, by implication, may force decadal variability in other regions with strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation teleconnections.
Keywords
oxygen 18; air-sea interaction; climate forcing; sea surface temperature; temporal variation; Africa; article; climate; coral; Indian Ocean; nonhuman; Pacific Ocean; priority journal; sea; skeleton; temperature; tropics; warming; Indian Ocean; Anthozoa; SOUTH ASIAN MONSOON; INTERDECADAL VARIABILITY; NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE; CORAL RECORD; OSCILLATION; CLIMATE; RAINFALL; ENSO; PREDICTION; SIGNAL
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PUB12753