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Improving SST reconstructions from coral Sr/Ca records: multiple corals from Tahiti (French Polynesia)

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Abstract

We reconstruct SST from coral Sr/Ca ratios measured at three coral cores taken from the lagoon of Tahiti (French Polynesia). Two coral cores were drilled from the same coral colony (one horizontally and one vertically), and a third core was drilled vertically from another coral growing at a different site. We evaluate several Sr/Ca records as proxies for regional SST variations: (1) the three single-core records from Tahiti, (2) an average Sr/Ca record computed from the two cores drilled from the same coral colony, (3) an average Sr/Ca record computed from all three Tahiti cores, and (4) an average Sr/Ca record computed from the three Tahiti cores and a fourth core taken from a different island (Rarotonga). On a monthly scale, the average Sr/Ca record including the four coral cores from Tahiti and Rarotonga shows the best correlation with regional SST. The variance of the SST reconstruction is very realistic and the residual SST is low. This suggests that reconstructing SST from average proxy records gives a better representation of regional SST variations. Of the three Tahiti cores, the one that was drilled horizontally shows the best correlation with grid-SST on an annual mean scale. All three Tahiti corals show much larger interannual SST variations than that indicated by grid-SST.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the support of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) (grant A/02/21403) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Leibniz award to Prof. Wolf-Christian Dullo). We are grateful to Dieter Garbe-Schönberg and Jens Zinke for discussions about Sr/Ca analysis. We also thank Karin Kiessling and Ana Kolevica for their assistance in the trace element laboratory. We thank Janice Lough and Kevin Helmle for their constructive reviews that greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Miriam Pfeiffer

    Present address: Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Universität Köln, Zülpicherstr. 49, 50674, Köln, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institut fuer Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischofstrasse 1-3, Kiel, Germany

    Sri Yudawati Cahyarini, Miriam Pfeiffer & W.-Chr. Dullo

  2. Research Centre for Geotechnology, LIPI, Komplek LIPI Sangkuriang Gd. 70, Bandung, 40135, Indonesia

    Sri Yudawati Cahyarini

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  1. Sri Yudawati Cahyarini
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  2. Miriam Pfeiffer
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  3. W.-Chr. Dullo
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Correspondence to Sri Yudawati Cahyarini.

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Cahyarini, S.Y., Pfeiffer, M. & Dullo, WC. Improving SST reconstructions from coral Sr/Ca records: multiple corals from Tahiti (French Polynesia). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 31–40 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0323-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0323-2

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