Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 25 January 2001
Science 23 February 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5508, pp. 1511 - 1517
DOI: 10.1126/science.1057969
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation Through a Glacial-Interglacial Cycle

Alexander W. Tudhope,12* Colin P. Chilcott,1 Malcolm T. McCulloch,3 Edward R. Cook,4 John Chappell,3 Robert M. Ellam,5 David W. Lea,6 Janice M. Lough,2 Graham B. Shimmield7

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most potent source of interannual climate variability. Uncertainty surrounding the impact of greenhouse warming on ENSO strength and frequency has stimulated efforts to develop a better understanding of the sensitivity of ENSO to climate change. Here we use annually banded corals from Papua New Guinea to show that ENSO has existed for the past 130,000 years, operating even during "glacial" times of substantially reduced regional and global temperature and changed solar forcing. However, we also find that during the 20th century ENSO has been strong compared with ENSO of previous cool (glacial) and warm (interglacial) times. The observed pattern of change in amplitude may be due to the combined effects of ENSO dampening during cool glacial conditions and ENSO forcing by precessional orbital variations.

1 Department of Geology & Geophysics, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW, UK.
2 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.
3 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
4 Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York 10964, USA.
5 Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, UK.
6 Department of Geological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
7 Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sandy.tudhope{at}ed.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea, during the Holocene: theory, method and practice.
T. Denham and S. Haberle (2008)
The Holocene 18, 481-496
   Abstract »    PDF »
Mass mortality following disturbance in Holocene coral reefs from Papua New Guinea.
J.M. Pandolfi, A.W. Tudhope, G. Burr, J. Chappell, E. Edinger, M. Frey, R. Steneck, C. Sharma, A. Yeates, M. Jennions, et al. (2006)
Geology 34, 949-952
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Links between the onset of modern Walker circulation and the mid-Pleistocene climate transition.
E. L. McClymont and A. Rosell-Mele (2005)
Geology 33, 389-392
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Strong El Nino events during the early Holocene: stable isotope evidence from Peruvian sea shells.
M. Carre, M. Carre, I. Bentaleb, M. Fontugne, and D. Lavallee (2005)
The Holocene 15, 42-47
   Abstract »    PDF »
El Nino-Southern Oscillation signal associated with middle Holocene climate change in intercorrelated terrestrial and marine sediment cores, North Island, New Zealand.
(2004)
Geology 32, 653-656
Antarctic Timing of Surface Water Changes off Chile and Patagonian Ice Sheet Response.
F. Lamy, J. Kaiser, U. Ninnemann, D. Hebbeln, H. W. Arz, and J. Stoner (2004)
Science 304, 1959-1962
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Pollen evidence for late-Holocene climatic variability at Laguna de Aculeo, Central Chile (lat. 34{degrees}S).
R. Villa-Martinez, C. Villagran, and B. Jenny (2004)
The Holocene 14, 361-367
   Abstract »    PDF »
Contributions of La Nina and El Nino to middle Holocene drought and late Holocene moisture in the American Southwest.
(2003)
Geology 31, 937-940
A synthesis of abrupt changes in the Asian summer monsoon since the last deglaciation.
C. Morrill, C. Morrill, J. T. Overpeck, and J. E. Cole (2003)
The Holocene 13, 465-476
   Abstract »    PDF »
Uncertainty, knowledge discovery and data mining in GIS.
G. M. Foody (2003)
Progress in Physical Geography 27, 113-121
   PDF »
Response to Comment on "Otolith delta 18O Record of Mid-Holocene Sea Surface Temperatures in Peru".
C. F. T. Andrus, D. E. Crowe, D. H. Sandweiss, E. J. Reitz, C. S. Romanek, and K. A. Maasch (2003)
Science 299, 203b
   Full Text »    PDF »
Late Pleistocene Climate Change and Erosion in the Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina.
(2003)
Journal of Sedimentary Research 73, 82-90
Super ENSO and Global Climate Oscillations at Millennial Time Scales.
L. Stott, C. Poulsen, S. Lund, and R. Thunell (2002)
Science 297, 222-226
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
El Nino-Like Pattern in Ice Age Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature.
A. Koutavas, J. Lynch-Stieglitz, T. M. Marchitto Jr., and J. P. Sachs (2002)
Science 297, 226-230
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Otolith delta 18O Record of Mid-Holocene Sea Surface Temperatures in Peru.
C. F. T. Andrus, D. E. Crowe, D. H. Sandweiss, E. J. Reitz, and C. S. Romanek (2002)
Science 295, 1508-1511
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Variation in Holocene El Nino frequencies: Climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru.
(2001)
Geology 29, 603-606


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products