Northern Red Sea corals: Seasonal archive of Middle East climate variability during the Holocene and the last interglacial
by
Thomas Felis
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Coauthors: Jürgen Pätzold (Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany), Salim M. Al-Moghrabi (Marine Science Station, University of Jordan, Aqaba, Jordan), Yossi Loya (Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel), Gerold Wefer (Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany)

Massive annually banded corals provide an archive for seasonal reconstructions of past climate and ocean variability. The study area in the Middle East is located at the northern rim of the African-Asian arid belt in proximity to the Mediterranean region to the north. The northern Red Sea is one of the rare Northern Hemisphere locations where corals grow at up to 28°-29.5°N.

Recent results based on the Ras Umm Sidd coral oxygen isotope record from the northern Red Sea (Sinai, ~28°N) revealed the important role of NAO, ENSO, and North Pacific atmospheric teleconnections on Middle East climate variability since the year 1750, preferentially at a period of ~5.7 years. The bimonthly resolution coral time series (1750-1995) is dominated by a ~70-year oscillation of probably North Atlantic origin. A 22-23-year oscillation is probably related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Field correlations with sea level pressure suggest that the winter coral time series is related to the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the Northern Hemisphere's dominant mode of atmospheric variability. The coral record in conjunction with regional instrumental observations suggests that the northern Red Sea and the southeastern Mediterranean display opposite aridity anomalies on interannual and longer timescales which are associated with cold/warm periods in the entire region.

Recent results based on oxygen isotope records of fossil corals from the northern Gulf of Aqaba (~29.5°N) suggest a higher seasonality in temperature and/or seasonal changes in the hydrologic balance for the mid-Holocene relative to today. Here we present new results for time windows spanning several years to a couple of decades length during the period 6000 to 3700 calendar years B.P. and from about 127,000 years B.P. during the last interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5e). These seasonal resolution coral records from the northern Red Sea will provide information on regional changes in temperature and hydrologic balance as well as on the existence of NAO/AO, ENSO, and North Pacific teleconnections on Middle East climate variability during both periods.

Date received: March 28, 2001

Copyright © 2001 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cagc-48.