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Science 31 July 1992:
Vol. 257. no. 5070, pp. 644 - 647
DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5070.644
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Articles

Sea-Surface Temperature from Coral Skeletal Strontium/Calcium Ratios

J. Warren Beck 1, R. Lawrence Edwards 1, Emi Ito 1, Frederick W. Taylor 2, Jacques Recy 3, Francis Rougerie 4, Pascale Joannot 5, and Christian Henin 6

1 Minnesota Isotope Laboratory, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
2 Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78759
3 Antenne ORSTOM (Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer), Laboratoire de Geodynamique Observatoire Oceanographique, B.P. 48, 06230 VilleFranche sur Mer, France
4 ORSTOM de Tahiti, B.P. 529, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
5 Aquarium de Noumea, B.P. 395, Noumea, New Caledonia
6 ORSTOM de New Caledonia, B.P. A-5, Noumea, New Caledonia

Seasonal records of tropical sea-surface temperature (SST) over the past 105 years can be recovered from high-precision measurements of coral strontium/calcium ratios with the use of thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The temperature dependence of these ratios was calibrated with corals collected at SST recording stations and by 18O/16O thermometry. The results suggest that mean monthly SST may be determined with an apparent accuracy of better than 0.5°C. Measurements on a fossil coral indicate that 10,200 years ago mean annual SSTs near Vanuatu in the southwestern Pacific Ocean were about 5°C colder than today and that seasonal variations in SST were larger. These data suggest that tropical climate zones were compressed toward the equator during deglaciation.

Submitted on March 12, 1992
Accepted on May 20, 1992


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