The Color of Corals

• Main Author: Todorov, Lauren
• Other Authors: Sivaguru, Mayandi, Fouke, Bruce W.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Geology; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114292

The record-breaking warm period of 2015 through 2018 continues the dramatic climb of average Earth temperatures over 17 of the last 18 years. It is therefore increasingly vital to accurately predict future global warming as a means to guide societal planning to survive the environmental impacts of sea level rise, ocean acidification, drought, disease and fire. The efficacy of climate change forecasts is determined in large part by comparison of modeling results with past multidecadal and millennial temperature changes recorded in environmental records (proxies) such as lake and ocean sediments, tree rings and ice. Especially critical in this regard are the changes in sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructed from the δ18O and Sr/Ca of CaCO3 (aragonite) coral skeletons. This polarization image displays the CaCO3 skeleton of a Porites coral collected at 24m water depth in the Myrmidon Reef within the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.