A high-resolution speleothem record of western equatorial Pacific rainfall: Implications for Holocene ENSO evolution

• Published in: Earth and planetary science letters 2016-05, Vol.442, p.61-71
• Main Authors: Chen, Sang, Hoffmann, Sharon S., Lund, David C., Cobb, Kim M., Emile-Geay, Julien, Adkins, Jess F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Borneo; Climate; El Nino; ENSO; Evolution; Holocene; Joining; Mollusks; Rainfall; Southern oscillation; speleothem [formula omitted]; Variance; western Pacific rainfall
• ISSN: 0012-821X; 1385-013X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.02.050

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the primary driver of interannual climate variability in the tropics and subtropics. Despite substantial progress in understanding ocean–atmosphere feedbacks that drive ENSO today, relatively little is known about its behavior on centennial and longer timescales. Paleoclimate records from lakes, corals, molluscs and deep-sea sediments generally suggest that ENSO variability was weaker during the mid-Holocene (4–6 kyr BP) than the late Holocene (0–4 kyr BP). However, discrepancies amongst the records preclude a clear timeline of Holocene ENSO evolution and therefore the attribution of ENSO variability to specific climate forcing mechanisms. Here we present δ18O results from a U–Th dated speleothem in Malaysian Borneo sampled at sub-annual resolution. The δ18O of Borneo rainfall is a robust proxy of regional convective intensity and precipitation amount, both of which are directly influenced by ENSO activity. Our estimates of stalagmite δ18O variance at ENSO periods (2–7 yr) show a significant reduction in interannual variability during the mid-Holocene (3240–3380 and 5160–5230 yr BP) relative to both the late Holocene (2390–2590 yr BP) and early Holocene (6590–6730 yr BP). The Borneo results are therefore inconsistent with lacustrine records of ENSO from the eastern equatorial Pacific that show little or no ENSO variance during the early Holocene. Instead, our results support coral, mollusc and foraminiferal records from the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that show a mid-Holocene minimum in ENSO variance. Reduced mid-Holocene interannual δ18O variability in Borneo coincides with an overall minimum in mean δ18O from 3.5 to 5.5 kyr BP. Persistent warm pool convection would tend to enhance the Walker circulation during the mid-Holocene, which likely contributed to reduced ENSO variance during this period. This finding implies that both convective intensity and interannual variability in Borneo are driven by coupled air-sea dynamics that are sensitive to precessional insolation forcing. Isolating the exact mechanisms that drive long-term ENSO evolution will require additional high-resolution paleoclimatic reconstructions and further investigation of Holocene tropical climate evolution using coupled climate models. •First speleothem-based Holocene ENSO record from WPWP.•Mid-Holocene ENSO minimum in multiple proxies.•Active ENSO in early Holocene in interannual records.•Holocene ENSO variance coupled to tropical