Rarotonga Sr/Ca and SST Reconstruction Data: Readme file
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                NOAA Paleoclimatology Program
                               and
         World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder
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NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCE WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!!

NAME OF DATA SET: Rarotonga Sr/Ca and SST Reconstruction Data
LAST UPDATE: 11/2000 (Original Receipt by WDC Paleo)

CONTRIBUTORS: 
Brad Linsley, University at Albany-State University of New York,
Gerard Wellington, University of Houston, and 
Daniel Schrag, Harvard University.  
	
IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2000-065

SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Linsley, B. et al., 2000,
Rarotonga Sr/Ca and SST Reconstruction Data, IGBP PAGES/
World Data Center for Paleoclimatology 
Data Contribution Series #2000-065. 
NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA. 

ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Linsley, B.K., G.M. Wellington, and
D.P. Schrag, 2000, Decadal Sea Surface Temperature Variability 
in the Sub-Tropical South Pacific from 1726 to 1997 A.D.,  
Science v.290, pp1145-1148, 10 Nov 2000.


GEOGRAPHIC REGION: subtropical eastern Pacific
PERIOD OF RECORD: 1726-1997 AD

FUNDING SOURCES: National Science Foundation (USA),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA).

LIST OF FILES: Readme_rarotonga.txt (this file),
rarotonga_sr-ca.txt. 

DESCRIPTION: 
A 271 year record of Sr/Ca variability in a coral from Rarotonga in the South Pacific gyre. 
Calibration with monthly sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite and ship measurements 
made in grid measuring 1° by 1° over the period from 1981 to 1997 indicates that this 
Sr/Ca record is an excellent proxy for SST. Comparison with SST from ship 
measurements made since 1950 in a grid measuring 5° by 5° also shows that the 
Sr/Ca data accurately record decadal changes in SST. The entire Sr/Ca record back to 
1726 shows a distinct pattern of decadal variability with repeated decadal and 
interdecadal SST regime shifts greater than 0.75°C. Comparison with decadal 
climate variability in the North Pacific as represented by the Pacific Decadal 
Oscillation index (1900-1997) indicates that several of the largest decadal-scale 
SST variations at Rarotonga are coherent with SST regime shifts in the North Pacific. 
This hemispheric symmetry suggests that tropical forcing may be an important 
factor in at least some of the decadal variability observed in the Pacific Ocean.