A Perpetually Running ENSO in the Pliocene?
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Wunsch-2009-A Perpetually Runnin.pdf
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Author(s)
Wunsch, Carl Isaac
Date Issued
January 2009
Journal
Journal of Climate
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Wunsch, Carl. “A Perpetually Running ENSO in the Pliocene?.” Journal of Climate (2009): 3506-3510. © 2009 American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Difficulties remain with theoretical explanations of the apparent reduced zonal sea surface temperature gradient in the tropical Pacific of the Pliocene. One favored hypothesis is that it was a “permanent El Niño” state, with the warm phase of ENSO remaining fixed over millions of years. Here, an alternative is suggested—that there was a “perpetually running ENSO” with a shorter return time than is observed today, and that the apparently reduced zonal gradient is an alias–rectification of a high-frequency signal governed by the growth patterns of the foraminifera used to provide proxy temperatures. The hypothesis is probably testable in the modern ocean with comparatively modest measurements of foraminifera behavior in time.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2009jcli2925.1
