The SISAL database: a global resource to document oxygen and carbon isotope records from speleothems

Kamolphat Atsawawaranunt ,Nikita Kaushal ,Franziska A Lechleitner ,Laia Comas-Bru ,Yuval Burstyn ,Sahar Amirnezhad-Mozhdehi ,Kerstin Braun ,Jun Hu ,Sakonvan Chawchai ,István Gábor Hatvani ,Andrew Lorrey ,Michael W Deininger ,Andy Baker ,Matthew S Lachniet ,Petra Bajo ,Robyn Pickering ,M M Arienzo ,Inga Labuhn ,Meighan Boyd ,Sandy P Harrison ,Wuhui Duan ,Zoltán Kern ,Shoeb Ahmad ,Carlos Pérez‐Mejías ,Yassine Ait Brahim ,Nick Scroxton

doi:10.5194/essd-10-1687-2018

Abstract

Abstract. Stable isotope records from speleothems provide information on past climate changes, most particularly information that can be used to reconstruct past changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation. These records are increasingly being used to provide “out-of-sample” evaluations of isotope-enabled climate models. SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) is an international working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation. The SISAL database contains data for individual speleothems, grouped by cave system. Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon (δ18O, δ13C) measurements are referenced by distance from the top or bottom of the speleothem. Additional tables provide information on dating, including information on the dates used to construct the original age model and sufficient information to assess the quality of each data set and to erect a standardized chronology across different speleothems. The metadata table provides location information, information on the full range of measurements carried out on each speleothem and information on the cave system that is relevant to the interpretation of the records, as well as citations for both publications and archived data. The compiled data are available at https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.147.

Highlights

Speleothems are inorganic carbonate deposits that grow in caves and form from drip water supersaturated with respect to CaCO3
The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation
Many different types of measurements have been made on speleothems, but the most common are the stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon (δ18O, δ13C)

Summary

Introduction

Speleothems are inorganic carbonate deposits (mostly calcite and aragonite) that grow in caves and form from drip water supersaturated with respect to CaCO3. Jaqueto et al (2016), Novello et al (2016) Winter et al (2011) Moreno et al (2010), Rudzka et al (2011) Lachniet et al (2011) Atkinson and Hopley (2013), Daley et al (2011) Genty et al (1998) Fleitmann et al (2007) Cruz et al (2009) Williams et al (2004) Asrat et al (2008), Baker et al (2007) Sinha et al (2015). We document the first publicly available version of the SISAL database, focusing on describing its structure and contents including the information that has been included to facilitate quality control

Compilation of data

Structure of the database

Quality control

Overview of contents

Findings

Conclusions