Hawaiian Drowned Reefs: Climate variability and coral reef response to environmental change in the sub-tropical Pacific over the last 500 ky

This research will produce records of seawater temperature and seawater chemistry in the Sub-tropical Pacific Ocean over the last 500,000 years. This time frame spans the last 5-6 glaciations and these temperature records will allow us to determine how climate changed as the ice sheets first advanced and then subsequently melted. We will correlate temperature records with known drivers of climate change such as increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and variations in how the planet is tilted towards the sun. The temperature records will also allow us to explore how the severity and frequency of climate events such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation has varied in the past.

In addition to these climate records, the research will also provide information as to how corals have responded to climate change in the past and how this influenced how they built reefs. In the present day, coral reefs support the livelihoods of billions of people. The planned research will determine if reefs grew more slowly or more rapidly in the past compared to the present day and if they were more or less resilient to erosion.