Coral δ18O-based reconstruction of El Niño-Southern Oscillation from the northern south China sea since 1851 AD

Abstract

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the largest source of interannual climate variability over the globe. Knowledge of ENSO variability back to the pre-instrumental period (and earlier) can help to enhance our understanding of its mechanisms and impacts. Here we use the coral record from the northern South China Sea, where the interannual climate variability is associated with ENSO activity, to reconstruct ENSO variability over the past 150 years. Our record, together with other ENSO chronologies, indicated not only the weakened ENSO activity between ~1930s and ~1960s but also the larger variations of El Niño activity relative to that of La Niña based on the sliding window method. The comparison between the SCS and Pacific ENSO band coral records revealed the relatively stronger climatic coupling between the SCS and the equatorial central-eastern Pacific compared with that between SCS and western Pacific, indicating the reliability of teleconnection relationship between the SCS climate and ENSO. Our result indicated that the coral δ18O record from the SCS could contribute to the pan-Pacific ENSO reconstructions.