Cool La Niña During the Warmth of the Pliocene?
Abstract
The role of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in greenhouse warming and climate change remains controversial. During the warmth of the early-mid Pliocene, we find evidence for enhanced thermocline tilt and cold upwelling in the equatorial Pacific, consistent with the prevalence of a La Niña–like state, rather than the proposed persistent warm El Niño–like conditions. Our Pliocene paleothermometer supports the idea of a dynamic “ocean thermostat” in which heating of the tropical Pacific leads to a cooling of the east equatorial Pacific and a La Niña–like state, analogous to observations of a transient increasing east-west sea surface temperature gradient in the 20th-century tropical Pacific.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Already a Subscriber?Sign In
Supplementary Material
File (rickaby_som.pdf)
References and Notes
1
W. J. Cai, P. H. Whetton, Geophys. Res. Lett.27, 2577 (2000).
2
K. E. Trenberth, D. P. Stepaniak, J. M. Caron, J. Geophys. Res.107, 4066 (2002);
3
Here, we use “hothouse” to denote the warm early-mid Pliocene climate regime when the Northern Hemisphere lacked substantial ice sheets, and “icehouse” for the Middle to Late Pleistocene regime characterized by the waxing and waning of major Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.
4
M. Budyko, Y. A. Izrael, Eds., Anthropogenic Climate Changes (L. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 1987).
5
T. C. Crowley, Quat. Sci. Rev.10, 275 (1991).
6
M. E. Raymo, B. Grant, M. Horowitz, G. H. Rau, Mar. Micropaleontol.27, 313 (1996).
7
Global climate is influenced by the seesaw of the tropical Pacific thermocline tilt, or ENSO. This connection underpins the proposal of persistent El Niño conditions during geological “hothouse periods.” The natural mode of oscillation is attributable to ocean-atmosphere interactions in which the trade winds create SST gradients that in turn reinforce the winds. In the Pacific, the prevailing easterly trade winds blow warm surface waters along the equator, creating a deep warm pool toward the western Pacific margin (35). This causes the tropical Pacific thermocline to become deeper in the west than in the east. Water is returned, along the thermocline, in the EUC, to the east, where it upwells. The zonal SST gradient between the west and east Pacific drives an east-west atmospheric circulation (the Walker Cell). This circulation further increases upwelling in the east Pacific, a process known as the Bjerknes feedback (36). Warm El Niño events occur when easterly trade winds decrease or reverse direction and warm water from the west Pacific spreads eastwards and, in doing so, reduces the Pacific thermocline tilt. This decreases the zonal temperature gradient, causing a breakdown of Walker Cell circulation. Cold La Niña events occur when trade winds are strong and induce a steep thermocline tilt. Changes in atmospheric circulation above the tropical Pacific cause changes in teleconnections to higher latitudes, with global climatic consequences on an interannual time scale. For this study, in which we investigate the average condition of the low-latitude ocean on million-year time scales, we refer to an El Niño (La Niña)–like state to reflect reduced (increased) east-west SST gradient, reduced (increased) thermocline tilt, and deeper (shallower) thermocline in the EEP. The detailed spatial patterns of atmosphere and ocean conditions associated with these two proposed states on geological time scales are currently unknown and may be very different from interannual configurations (37).
8
W. P. Chaisson, A. C. Ravelo, Paleoceanography15, 497 (2000).
9
M. A. Cane, P. Molnar, Nature411, 157 (2001).
10
P. Molnar, M. A. Cane, Paleoceanography17, 663 (2002);
11
K. G. Cannariato, A. C. Ravelo, Paleoceanography12, 805 (1997).
12
Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
13
At the critical site for our new interpretation, site 847, carbonate accumulation rates were higher prior to 4 Ma, which implies that preservation was improved during the Pliocene relative to today (17). The chemistry of G. sacculifer is insensitive to dissolution due to chemical homogeneity throughout the test (38). Planktonic Sr/Ca is a potential indicator of dissolution. Further evidence of the minimal influence of dissolution on these records is the covariation of Sr/Ca of G. sacculifer and G. tumida from both sites (Fig. 1E), which also parallels oceanic Sr/Ca evolution (39).
14
S. G. Philander, A. V. Federov, Paleoceanography18, 837 (2003);
15
T. Izumo, J. Picaut, B. Blanke, Geophys. Res. Lett.29, 15073 (2002);
16
S. A. Hovan, Proc. ODP Sci. Results138, 615 (1995).
17
T. King, Mar. Micropaleontol.27, 63 (1996).
18
A. C. Clement, R. Seager, M. A. Cane, S. E. Zebiak, J. Clim.9, 2190 (1996).
19
M. A. Cane et al., Science275, 957 (1997).
20
K. B. Rodgers, M. A. Cane, N. H. Naik, D. P. Schrag, J. Geophys. Res.104, 20,551 (1999).
21
D. Gu, S. G. H. Philander, Science275, 805 (1997).
22
E. J. Rohling, Mar. Geol.163, 1 (2000).
23
C. H. Lear, Y. Rosenthal, J. D. Wright, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.210, 425 (2003).
24
Y. Rosenthal, G. P. Lohmann, K. C. Lohmann, R. M. Sherrell, Paleoceanography15, 135 (2000).
25
H. J. Spero, K. M. Mielke, E. M. Kalve, D. W. Lea, D. K. Pak, Paleoceanography18, 1022 (2003);
26
G. A. Schmidt, Paleoceanography14, 422 (1999).
27
L. C. Sloan, T. J. Crowley, D. Pollard, Mar. Micropaleontol.27, 51 (1996).
28
K. B. Rodgers et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 16003 (2003);
29
K. B. Rodgers, M. Latif, S. Legutke, Geophys. Res. Lett.27, 2941 (2000).
30
K. Billups, A. C. Ravelo, J. C. Zachos, Paleoceanography13, 84 (1998).
31
A. H. Oort, J. J. Yienger, J. Clim.9, 2751 (1996).
32
G. Boccaletti, R. C. Pacanowski, S. G. H. Philander, A. V. Federov, J. Phys. Oceangr.34, 888 (2004).
33
M. Huber, R. Caballero, Science299, 877 (2003).
34
M. A. Cane, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.164, 1 (2004).
35
E. Maier-Reimer, U. Mikalojewicz, T. J. Crowley, Paleoceanography5, 349 (1990).
36
A. V. Federov, G. Philander, Science288, 1997 (2000).
37
W. Hazeleger, R. Seager, M. A. Cane, N. H. Naik, J. Phys. Oceanogr.34, 320 (2004).
38
S. Brown, H. Elderfield, Paleoceanography11, 543 (1996).
39
C. H. Lear, H. Elderfield, P. A. Wilson, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.208, 69 (2003).
40
P. Anand, H. Elderfield, M. H. Conte, Paleoceanography18, 846 (2003);
41
S. Levitus, T. Boyer, World Ocean Atlas 1994, Vol. 4, NOAA National Environmental and Satellite Data and Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC (1994).
42
D. W. Lea, D. K. Pak, H. J. Spero, Science289, 1719 (2000).
43
E. C. Farmer, Thesis, Columbia University (2000).
44
We thank M. Evans and M. Cane for invaluable exchange of ideas, two anonymous reviewers who greatly improved this manuscript, J. Arden for technical support, and D. Sansom for art support. Further thanks to the Ocean Drilling Program for providing samples and to the Natural Environment Research Council for providing financial support.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In

Science
Volume 307 | Issue 5717
25 March 2005
25 March 2005
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 30 August 2004
Accepted: 24 January 2005
Published in print: 25 March 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Usage
Altmetrics
Citations
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.
Cited by
- Evolution of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Through Plio-Pleistocene Glaciation, Science, 312, 5770, (79-83), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1120395
- The Pliocene Paradox (Mechanisms for a Permanent El Niño), Science, 312, 5779, (1485-1489), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1122666
- Permanent El Niño-Like Conditions During the Pliocene Warm Period, Science, 309, 5735, (758-761), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1112596
Loading...
View Options
Get Access
Log in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
- Become a AAAS Member
- Activate your AAAS ID
- Purchase Access to Other Journals in the Science Family
- Account Help
Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.
More options
Purchase digital access to this article
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
View options
PDF format
Download this article as a PDF file
Download PDF





