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Science 15 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5720, pp. 401 - 404
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104035
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Reports

Open-System Coral Ages Reveal Persistent Suborbital Sea-Level Cycles

William G. Thompson*{dagger} and Steven L. Goldstein

Sea level is a sensitive index of global climate that has been linked to Earth's orbital variations, with a minimum periodicity of about 21,000 years. Although there is ample evidence for climate oscillations that are too frequent to be explained by orbital forcing, suborbital-frequency sea-level change has been difficult to resolve, primarily because of problems with uranium/thorium coral dating. Here we use a new approach that corrects coral ages for the frequently observed open-system behavior of uranium-series nuclides, substantially improving the resolution of sea-level reconstruction. This curve reveals persistent sea-level oscillations that are too frequent to be explained exclusively by orbital forcing.

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.

* Present address: Department of Geology and Geophysics, 118 Clark Lab, Mail Stop 23, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wthompson{at}whoi.edu

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