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Abstract:
Chemical analysis of deepwater octocorals collected at
1000 m depth off southern Australia indicates long-term
cooling, beginning in the mid-18th century. This cooling
appears to reflect shoaling of isotherms along the
continental shelf, that can be related statistically,
observationally and by modeling to increasing coastal seasurface temperatures, that in turn reflect a poleward
extension of the SW Pacific boundary current (the East
Australian Current). The oceanographic changes implied by
the coral record suggest climate change in temperate
Australia starting about the time of European settlement.
Correlations between temperate Australian and Antarctic
indices suggest these long-term changes might also be
relevant to Antarctic climate. INDEX TERMS: 1620 Global
Change: Climate dynamics (3309); 3339 Meteorology and
Atmospheric Dynamics: Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312,4504); 3344 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics:
Paleoclimatology; 3349 Meteorology and Atmospheric
Dynamics: Polar meteorology; KEYWORDS: Coral age validation, Australia, Coral chemistry, Southern Ocean, Sub-tropical ridge, Climate proxy.