32 Observations and Modelling of ENSO and Other Aspects of Short-term Climate Variability During the Holocene

Saturday, 26 July 2003
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

A RECURRING SUPER ENSO-LIKE SST AND SSS PATTERN IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC DURING THE HOLOCENE

Paper number: 32-2
Program: SYMPOSIA
Time: 8:10 AM – 8:50 AM

Authors

Abstract

The western tropical Pacific warm pool has experienced large recurring temperature and salinity perturbations throughout the Holocene that lasted from centuries to millennia. Approximately ten times during the Holocene the surface ocean in the western tropical Pacific became warmer and saltier than it is today. These episodes are attributed to a more northerly displacement of the ITCZ during summer, and its influence on the hydrologic cycle across the Pacific Warm Pool. The most recent episode of warmer and saltier conditions in the western Pacific coincided with the Medieval Warm Period, which gave way to the relatively cooler and less salty conditions during the Little Ice Age. The recurring nature of large millennial scale ocean/climate change in the tropical Pacific has important implications for assessing how tropical and global climate could vary in the future.