Abstract.
Standard ocean/climate indices such as the Niño-3 sea surface temperature (SST) index, based on sparse instrumental data, and atmospheric indices such as the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), may now be substituted and/or extended by coral-based indices. Several elements or their isotopes are incorporated in coral aragonitic skeletons at predictable concentrations, some of which are temperature or salinity dependent. The availability of century-old corals, at key oceanographic sites, permits the establishment of a network of proxy climate indices.
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Accepted: 24 January 1997
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Fairbanks, R., Evans, M., Rubenstone, J. et al. Evaluating climate indices and their geochemical proxies measured in corals. Coral Reefs 16 (Suppl 1), S93–S100 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003380050245
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003380050245