Evidence for stronger El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Events in a Mid‐Holocene massive coral

Abstract

We present a 47‐year‐long record of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Sr/Ca and U/Ca analysis of a massive Porites coral which grew at ∼ 4150 calendar years before present (B.P.) in Vanuatu (southwest tropical Pacific Ocean). Mean SST is similar in both the modern instrumental record and paleorecord, and both exhibit El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency SST oscillations. However, several strong decadal‐frequency cooling events and a marked modulation of the seasonal SST cycle, with power at both ENSO and decadal frequencies, are observed in the paleorecord, which are unprecedented in the modern record.