Higher sea surface temperature in the northern South China Sea during the natural warm periods of late Holocene than recent decades

The large-scale syntheses of global mean temperatures in IPCC fourth report suggested that the Northern Hemisphere temperature in the second half of the 20th century was likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years and the 1990s was likely the warmest decade. However, this remains debated and the controversy is centered on whether temperatures during the recent half century were higher than those during the Medieval Cli- mate Anomaly （MCA, AD 800-1300） and the Roman Warm Period （RWP, BC 200-AD 400）, the most recent two natural warm periods of the late Holocene. Here the high resolution sea surface temperatures （SSTs） of two time windows around AD 990 （±40） and AD 50 （±40）, which located in the MCA and RWP respectively, were reconstructed by the Sr/Ca ratio and 6180 of Tradacna gigas shells from the northern South China Sea. The resultssuggested that the mean SSTs around AD 990 （±40） and AD 50 （＋40） were 28.1 ℃ and 28.7 ℃, 0.8 ℃ and 1.4 ℃ higher than that during AD 199±2005, respectively. These records, together with the tree ring, lake sediment and literature records from the eastern China and northwest China, imply that the temperatures in recent decades do not seem to exceed the natural changes in MCA, at least in eastern Asia from northwest China to northern SCS.     

砗磲高分辨率Sr/Ca温度计:3种物种的对比分析

对采自南海西沙的3种不同种的现代砗磲(库氏砗磲、鳞砗磲、砗蚝)进行了高分辨率Sr/Ca比值分析.结果表明:库氏砗磲和鳞砗磲的Sr/Ca比值呈现出年周期变化并与实测的海表面温度(SST)形成较好的对应;而砗蚝的Sr/Ca比值年周期信号较弱且与温度的对应存在较大的不确定性.通过全年逐月或逐周对应和极端对应,我们共获得了两种砗磲的4个有效的Sr/Ca-SST方程,并能较好地作为Sr/Ca温度计进行温度恢复.对比不同种类的砗磲,其Sr/Ca分布有所不同,相应的Sr/Ca-SST方程也有一定的区别.这项研究为选择性地应用砗磲研究全新世气候变化提供了依据.