On the relationship between coral δ13C and Caribbean climate

• Published in: International Journal of Climatology
• Main Authors: Winter, Amos, Jury, Mark, Sammarco, Paul W., Zanchettin, Davide
• Other Authors: Winter, Amo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Caribbean; climate variability and trend; coral proxy record; Atmospheric Science; Settore GEO/12 - Oceanografia e Fisica dell'Atmosfera; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3704775; https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5772; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0088

A coral (Orbicella faveolata) δ13C isotope ratio record off the southwest coast of Puerto Rico is used to indicate regional ocean–atmosphere conditions over the 20th century. The coral δ13C record is correlated positively with North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) and local evaporation. Spatial correlation maps show a broad area of influence by SST, sea-level pressure and evaporation to the northeast of Puerto Rico. The composite maps reflect a strengthening of the North Atlantic anticyclone and east Pacific counter-currents during years of enhanced coral growth. The coral δ13C record presented here corresponds with a local cloud cover increase of ~10% in parallel with a 0.5 °C rise of local SST since 1900. Environmental conditions tend to lead coral growth in a knock-on effect as seen in local SST, cloud cover and evaporation data. The coral community may thus be a sentinel of both multi-year fluctuations and centennial trends in Central Caribbean climate.