Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 4 1 2008 10.5194/cpd-4-173-2008 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/173/2008/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/173/2008/cpd-4-173-2008.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/173/2008/cpd-4-173-2008.pdf 173 211 2008-02-14 Response of regional climate and glacier ice proxies to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the subtropical Andes E. Dietze A. Kleber M. Schwikowski margit.schwikowski@psi.ch Institute of Geography, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important element of earth's ocean-climate system. To further understand its past variability, proxy records from climate archives need to be studied. Ice cores from high alpine glaciers may contain high resolution ENSO proxy information, given the glacier site is climatologically sensitive to ENSO. We investigated signals of ENSO in the climate of the subtropical Andes in the proximity of Cerro Tapado glacier (30°08' S, 69°55' W, 5550 m a.s.l.), where a 36 m long ice core was drilled in 1999 (Ginot, 2001). We used annual and semi-annual precipitation and temperature time series from regional meteorological stations and interpolated grids for correlation analyses with ENSO indices and ice core-derived proxies (net accumulation, stable isotope ratio δ¹⁸O, major ion concentrations). The total time period investigated here comprises 1900 to 2000, but varies with data sets. Only in the western, i.e. Mediterranean Andes precipitation is higher (lower) during El Niño (La Niña) events, especially at higher altitudes, due to the latitudinal shift of frontal activity during austral winters. However, the temperature response to ENSO is more stable in space and time, being higher (lower) during El Niño (La Niña) events in most of the subtropical Andes all year long. From a northwest to southeast teleconnection gradient, we suggest a regional water vapour feedback triggers temperature anomalies as a function of ENSO-related changes in regional pressure systems, Pacific sea surface temperature and tropical moisture input. Tapado glacier ice proxies are found to be predominantly connected to eastern Andean summer rain climate, which contradicts previous studies and the modern mean spatial boundary between subtropical summer and winter rain climate derived from the grid data. The only ice core proxy showing a response to ENSO is the major ion concentrations, via local temperature indicating reduced sublimation and mineral dust input during El Niño years. Aceituno, P.: On the Functioning of the Southern Oscillation in the South American Sector. Part I: Surface Climate, Mon. Weather Rev., 116, 505–524, 1988. Aceituno, P. and Montecinos, A.: Análisis de la estabilidad de la relación entre la Oscilación del Sur y la Precipitación en América del Sur, Bull. Inst. Fr. études andines, 22, 53–64, 1993 (in Spanish). Allan, R.: ENSO and related teleconnections, in: The global climate system – Patterns, Processes and Teleconnections, edited by: Bridgman, H. A. and Oliver, J. E., Cambridge University Press, 38–57, 2006. Allan, R. J., Nicholls, N., Jones, P. D., and Butterworth, I. J.: A further extension of the Tahiti-Darwin SOI, early SOI results and Darwin pressure, data available at http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/soi.htm, J. Climate, 4, 743–749, 1991. Baker, C. B., Eischeid, J. K., Karl, T. R., and Diaz, H. F.: The quality control of long-term climatological data using objective data analysis, Preprints of AMS Ninth Conference on Applied Climatology, data available at http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES, Dallas, 1995. Barros, V. E. and Scasso, L. M.: Surface pressure and temperature anomalies in Argentina in connection with the Southern Oscillation, Atmósfera, 7, 159–171, 1994. Begert, M.: Klimatologische Untersuchung in der weiteren Umgebung des Cerro Tapado, Norte Chico, Chile, Diploma Thesis, University of Bern, Switzerland, 1999 (in German). Bolius, D., Schwikowski, M., Jenk, T., Gäggeler, H. W., Casassa, G., and Rivera, A.: A first shallow firn core record from Glaciar La Ollada on Cerro Mercedario in the Central Argentinean Andes, Ann. Glaciol., 43, 14–22, 2006. Bradley, R. S., Vuille, M., Hardy, D., and Thompson, L. G.: Low latitude ice cores record Pacific sea surface temperatures, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1174, doi:10.1029/2002GL016546, 2003. Carleton, A. M.: Atmospheric teleconnections involving the Southern Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8080, doi:10.1029/2000JC000379, 2003. Cavazos, T. and Rivas, D.: Variability of extreme precipitation events in Tijuana, Mexico, Clim. Res., 25, 229–243, 2004. Cerverny, R. S., Skeeter, B. R., and Dewey, K. F.: A preliminary investigation of a relationship between South American snow cover and the Southern Oscillation, Mon. Weather Rev., 115, 620–623, 1987. Dansgaard, W.: Stable isotopes in precipitation, Tellus, 16, 436–468, 1964. Dansgaard, W.: Greenland ice core studies, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 50, 185–187, 1985. Eichler, A., Schwikowski, M., and Gäggeler, H. W.: Meltwater-induced relocation of chemical species in Alpine firn, Tellus, B53, 192–201, 2001. Escobar, F., Casassa, G., and Pozo, V.: Variaciones de un glaciar de montaña en los andes de chile central en las \'ultimas dos décadas, B. Inst. Fr. Etudes andines, 24, 683–695, 1995 (in Spanish). Escobar, F. and Aceituno, P.: Influencia del fenómeno ENSO sobre la precipitación nival en el sector andino de Chile Central durante el invierno austral, B. Inst. Fr. études andines, 27, 753–759, 1998 (in Spanish). Gallego, D., Ribera, P., García, R., Gimeno, L., and Hernandez, E.: A new look for the southern hemisphere jet stream, Clim. Dynam., 24, 607–62, 2005. Gallego, D., García-Herrera, R., Prieto, R., and Peña-Ortiz, C.: On the quality of climate proxies derived from newspaper reports – a case study, Clim. Past Discuss., 3, 977–997, 2007. Garreaud, R., Vuille, M., and Clement, A. C.: The climate of the Altiplano: observed current conditions and mechanisms of past changes, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 194, 5–22, 2003. Gergis, J. and Fowler, A.: Classification of synchronous oceanic and atmospheric El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events for palaeoclimate reconstruction, (data available as personal communication), Int. J. Climatol., 25, 1541–1565, 2005. Ginot, P.: Glaciochemical study of ice cores from Andean glaciers, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bern, Switzerland, 2001. Ginot, P., Kull, C., Schwikowski, M., Schotterer, U., and Gäggeler, H.: Effects of postdepositional processes on snow composition of a subtropical glacier (Cerro Tapado, Chilean Andes), J. Geophys. Res., 106, 32 375–32 386, 2001. Ginot, P., Schwikowski, M., Schotterer, U., Gäggeler, H., Gallaire, R., and Pouyaud, B.: Potential for climate variability reconstruction from Andean glaciochemical records, Ann. Glaciol., 35, 35–120, 2002. Ginot, P., Kull, C., Schotterer, U., Schwikowski, M., and Gäggeler, H.: Glacier mass balance reconstruction by sublimation induced enrichment of chemical species on Cerro Tapado (Chilean Andes), Clim. Past, 2, 21–30, 2006. Glantz, M. H.: Currents of change: El Niño's impact on climate and society, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Grimm, A. M., Barros, V. R., and Doyle, M. E.: Climate variability in southern South America associated with El Niño and La Niña events, J. Climate, 13, 35–58, 2000. Hall, A. and Manabe, S.: The role of water vapor feedback in unperturbed climate variability and global warming, J. Climate, 12, 2327–2346, 1999. Hardy, D. R., Vuille, M., and Bradley, R. S.: Variability of snow accumulation and isotopic composition on Nevado Sajama, Bolivia, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4693, doi:10.1029/2003JD003623, 2003. Henderson, K. A., Laube, A., Saurer, M., Gäggeler, H. W., Olivier, S., Papina, T., and Schwikowski, M.: Temporal variations of accumulation and temperature during the past two centuries from Belukha ice core, Siberian Altai, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D03104, doi:10.1029/2005JD005819, 2006. Hoffmann, G., Ramirez, E., Taupin, J. D., Francou, B., Ribstein, P., Delmas, R., Dürr, H., Gallaire, R., Simoes, J., Schotterer, U., Stievenard, M., and Werner, M.: Coherent isotope history of Andean ice cores over the last century, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1179, doi:10.1029/2002GL014870, 2003. Holton, J. R.: An introduction to dynamic meteorology, Elsevier Academic Press, 2004. Johnsen, S. J.: Stable isotope homogenisation of polar firn and snow, Proceedings of Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice, IAHS Publ., 118, 210–219, 1977. Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Leetmaa, A., Reynolds, B., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Jenne, R., and Joseph, D.: The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project, data available at: http://www.cdc.noaa.gov, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 77, 437–471, 1996. Kiladis, G. N. and Diaz, H. D.: Global climate anomalies associated with extremes in the Southern Oscillation, J. Climate, 2, 1069–1090, 1989. Knüsel, S., Brütsch, S., Henderson, K. A., Palmer, A. S., and Schwikowski, M.: ENSO signals of the twentieth century in an ice core from Nevado Illimani, Bolivia, J. Geophys. Res., 110, 1102, doi:10.1029/2004JD005420, 2005. Labeyrie, L., Cole, J., Alverson, K., and Stocker, T.: The history of climate dynamics in the late Quaternary, in: Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future, edited by: Alverson, K., Bradley, R., and Pederson, T., Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 33–62, 2003. Leiva, J. C. and Cabrera, G. A.: Glacier mass balance analysis and reconstruction in the Cajon del Rubio, Mendoza, Argentina, Z. Gletscherk. Glazialgeol., 32, 101–107, 1996. Leiva, J. C., Cabrera, G. A., and Lenzano, L. E.: 20 years of mass balances on the Piloto glacier, Las Cuevas river basin, Mendoza, Argentina, Global and Planetary Change, 59, 10–16, 2007. Manabe, S. and Wetherald, R. T.: Thermal equilibrium of the atmosphere with a given distribution of relative humidity, J. Atmos. Sci., 24, 241–259, 1967. Mo, K. C. and Higgins, R. W.: The Pacific-South American modes and tropical convection during the southern hemisphere winter, Mon. Weather Rev., 126, 1581–1596, 1998. Montecinos, A. and Aceituno, P.: Seasonality of the ENSO-Related rainfall variability in Central Chile and associated circulation anomalies, J. Climate, 16, 281–296, 2003. Montecinos, A., Diaz, A., and Aceituno, P.: Seasonal diagnostic and predictability of rainfall in subtropical South America based on tropical Pacific SST, J. Climate, 13, 746–758, 2000. Pfaff A., Broad, K., and Glantz, M.: Who benefits from climate forecasts?, Nature, 397, 645–646, 1999. Philipona, R., Dürr, B., Ohmura, A., and Ruckstuhl, C.: Anthropogenic greenhouse forcing and strong water vapor feedback increase temperature in Europe, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L19809, doi:10.1029/2005GL023624, 2005. Rasmusson, E. M. and Arkin, P. A.: A global view of large-scale precipitation variability, J. Climate, 6, 1495–1522, 1993. Ropelewski, C. F. and Halpert, M. S.: Global and regional scale precipitation patterns associated with El Niño/Southern Oscillation, Mon. Weather Rev., 115, 1606–1626, 1987. Ropelewski, C. F. and Jones, P. D.: An extension of the Tahiti-Darwin Southern Oscillation Index, Mon. Weather Rev., 115, 2161–2165, 1987. Rozanski, K. and Araguas-Araguas, L.: Spatial and temporal variability of stable isotope composition of precipitation over the South American continent, B. Inst. Fr. études andines, 24, 379–390, 1995. Rozanski, K., Araguas-Araguas, L., and Gonfiantini, R.: Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation, in: Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records, edited by: Swart, P. K., Lohmann, K. C., MacKenzie, J., and Savin, S., AGU, Washington, D.C., 1–37, 1993. Rutllant, J. A. and Fuenzalida, H.: Synoptic aspects of the Central Chile rainfall variability associated with the Southern Oscillation, Int. J. Climatol., 11, 63–76, 1991. Rutllant, J. A., Masotti, I., Calderon, J., and Vega, S. A.: A comparison of spring coastal upwelling off central Chile at the extremes of the 1996–1997 ENSO cycle, Cont. Shelf Res., 24, 773–787, 2004. Schmidt, D.: Das Extremklima der nordchilenischen Hochatacama unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Höhengradienten, Dresdener Geograph. Beiträge, 4, 1999 (in German). Schotterer, U., Grosjean, M., Stichler, W., Ginot, P., Kull, C., Bonnaveira, H., Francou, B., Gäggeler, H. W., Gallaire, R., Hoffmann, G., Pouyaud, B., Ramirez, E., Schwikowski, M., and Taupin, J. D.: Glaciers and climate in the Andes between the equator and 30° S: What is recorded under extreme environmental conditions?, Clim. Change, 59, 157–175, 2003. Seluchi, M. E. and Marengo, J. A.: Tropical-midlatitude exchange of air masses during summer and winter in South America: Climatic Aspects and Examples of Intense Events, Int. J. Climatol., 20, 1167–1190, 2000. Sheinbaum, J.: Current theories on El Niño-Southern Oscillation: a review, Geofís. Internac., 42, 1–15, 2003. Soden, B. J., Wetherald, R. T., Stenchikov, G. L., and Robock, A.: Global cooling after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo: A test of climate feedback by water vapor, Science, 296, 727–730, 2002. Stichler W., Schotterer, U., Fröhlich, K., Ginot, P., Kull, C., Gäggeler, H., and Pouyaud, B.: Influence of sublimation on stable isotope records recovered from high-altitude glaciers in the tropical Andes, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 613–620, 2001. Timmermann, A., Oberhuber, J., Bacher, A., Esch, M., Latif, M., and Roeckner, E.: Increased El Niño frequency in a climate model forced by future greenhouse warming, Nature, 398, 694–697, 1999. Trenberth, K. E. and Stepaniak, D. P.: Indices of El Niño evolution, data available at: \mboxhttp://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/catalog/climind/TNI_N34, J. Climate, 14, 1697–1701, 2001. Trenberth, K. E., Stepaniak, D. P., and Smith, L.: Interannual variability of patterns of atmospheric mass distribution, J. Climate, 18, 2812–2825, 2005. Vecchi, G. A., Soden, B. J., Wittenberg, A. T., Held, I. M., Leetmaa, A., and Harrison, M. J.: Weakening of tropical Pacific atmospheric circulation due to anthropogenic forcing, Nature, 441, 73–76, 2006. Veit, H.: Jungquartäre Landschafts- und Bodenentwicklung im chilenischen Andenvorland zwischen 27–33° S, Bonner Geograph. Abh., 85, 196–208, 1992 (in German). Vimeux, F., Gallaire, R., Bony, S., Hoffmann, G., and Chiang, J. C. H.: What are the climate controls on $\delta $D in precipitation in the Zongo Valley (Bolivia)? Implications for the Illimani ice core interpretation, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett.,~240, 205–220, 2005. Vose, R. S., Schmoyer, R. L., Steurer, P. M., Peterson, T. C., Heim, R., Karl, T. R., and Eischeid, J.: The Global Historical Climatology Network: long-term monthly temperature, precipitation, sea level pressure, and station pressure data, data available at http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1992. Vuille, M. and Ammann, C.: Regional snowfall patterns in the high, arid Andes, Clim. Change, 36, 413–423, 1997. Wagnon, P., Ribstein, P., Kaser, G., and Berton, P.: Energy balance and runoff seasonality of a Bolivian glacier, Global and Planetary Change,~22, 49–58, 1999. Weischet, W.: Einführung in die Allgemeine Klimatologie, Teubner, Stuttgart, 276 p., 1995 (in German). Willmott, C. J. and Matsuura, K.: Terrestrial air temperature and precipitation: monthly and annual time series (1950–1999), data available at: http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate/, Center for Climatic Research, Department of Geography, University of Delaware, 2001. Yuan, X.: ENSO-related impacts on Antarctic sea ice: a synthesis of phenomenon and mechanisms, Antarct. Science, 16, 415–425, 2004. Ziessler, E.: Das Regionalklima und die Isotopensignale von Eisbohrkernen der subtropischen Anden in Normal- und ENSO-Zeiten, Diploma Thesis, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, 2007 (in German).