NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Northeast Breakers - del18O, del13C, and Sr/Ca Data

Records of skeletal d18O in monthly and Sr/Ca ratios in half-yearly resolution were obtained from a Bermuda coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis) for the time period 1520-1603 (±15 years) A.D. within the Little Ice Age. Annual and decadal averages of both sea surface temperature proxies indicate temperature variabilities of 0.5 °C (standard deviation) and 0.3 °C, respectively. Both numbers are close to recent instrumental observations. Approximately 30% of the interannual time series variance of d18O is concentrated in broad bands centered at periods of ~30, 16, and 7.8 years, the last two reflecting the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Although this large-scale climate signal is present in the record, there is no correlation with other contemporaneous Northern Hemisphere proxy data, resulting from spatial differences in climate variability.