Oxygen isotopes in western Australian coral reveal Pinatubo aerosol-induced cooling in the Western Pacific Warm Pool
- Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia)
The authors report a 12 year record study of oxygen 18 isotope signals in a coral (Ningaloo Reef), which is situated so as to give an ideal measure of the sea-surface temperature variation of the local Leeuwin Current. This record consists of nearly weekly readings from 1981 to 1993, and brackets the period following the June 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Extended study shows a strong correlation of sea-surface temperature on this coral with changes in the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP), with a lag of 2.5 years. A distinct cooling signal was seen in the inferred sea-surface temperatures from coral measurements, in 1992 and 1993, which suggests the WPWP was cooled roughly 0.5{degrees}C by aerosol induced effects.
- OSTI ID:
- 135810
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 22, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: 1 May 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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