Tropical pacific forcing of decadal SST variability in the western indian ocean over the past two centuries
A 194-year annual record of skeletal delta(18)O from a coral growing at Malindi, Kenya, preserves a history of sea surface temperature (SST) change that is coherent with instrumental and proxy records of tropical Pacific climate variability over interannual to decadal periods. This variability is superimposed on a warming of as much as 1.3 degrees C since the early 1800s. These results suggest that the tropical Pacific imparts substantial decadal climate variability to the western Indian Ocean and, by implication, may force decadal variability in other regions with strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation teleconnections.
Cole
JE
Department of Geological Sciences/Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)/Program in Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanfor.
Dunbar
RB
McClanahan
TR
Muthiga
NA