Evidences linking ENSO and coral growth in the Southwestern-South Atlantic

• Main Authors: Evangelista, H., Godiva, D., /Sifeddine, Abdelfettah, Leao, Z.M.A.N., Rigozo, N. R., Segal, B., Ambrizzi, T., Kampel, M., Kikuchi, R. K. P., /Le Cornec, Florence
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: abrolhos coral reefs; ENSO; polar fronts; coral sclerochronology; climate change; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010040832

Physical and biological changes in the marine environment, induced by oceanic-atmospheric processes, can be imprinted in massive coral skeletons. Herein, we present an evidence of potential El Nino impacts at the Southwestern South Atlantic Ocean (SWSA) inferred from the sclerochronology of the reef coral Favia leptophylla. The application of spectral analysis (wavelet decomposition and the iterative regression) to coral growth length and to meteorological-oceanographic parameters (air temperature, sea surface temperature and precipitation) as well as to Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and solar irradiation indicated a major significant inverse relationship between SOI and coral growth length at the 4-8 years frequency band. We propose here that coral growth length from the SWSA could be affected by El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events through an "atmospheric bridge", in contrast to its direct effect at the Pacific Ocean, related to the increase in sea surface temperature.