Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Return to search results
💡 Advanced Search Tip

Search by organization or tag to find related datasets

Delta Oxygen-18 and SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE collected from KNORR in Equatorial Pacific Ocean from 0862-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (NCEI Accession 0142201)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: October 13, 2025 | Last Modified: 2016-02-16T00:00:00.000+00:00
Tropical Pacific Ocean dynamics during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA) are poorly characterized due to lack of evidence from the eastern equatorial Pacific. We reconstructed sea surface temperature, El Niño– Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity, and the tropical Pacific zonal gradient for the past millennium from Galápagos ocean sediments. We document a “Mid - Millennium Shift” (MMS) in ocean - atmosphere circulation ~1500 -1650 CE, from a state with strong zonal gradient and dampened ENSO to one with weak gradient and amplified ENSO. The MMS coincided with deepest LIA cooling and was likely caused by southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Peak MCA (900 - 1150 CE) was a warm period in the eastern Pacific, contradicting the paradigm of a persistent La Niña pattern.

Complete Metadata

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov