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Coral Paleoclimatology

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  Coral reef

  Aqaba, northern Red Sea

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  Fossil coral drilling

  Bonaire, Caribbean Sea

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  Expedition sites

  Red Sea, Caribbean Sea, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean
  

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  Fossil coral drilling

  Marquesas, South Pacific

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  Annual coral bands

  Density banding pattern

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  Fossil coral drilling

  Bonaire, Caribbean Sea

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  Fossil coral drilling

  Andaman Is., Gulf of Bengal

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  Fossil coral drilling

  Bonaire, Caribbean Sea

Coral Paleoclimatology

Sci­en­tific­ally in­de­pend­ent group at MARUM

The interaction of warm tropical ocean surface waters with the overlying atmosphere on seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales is the source of climate extremes throughout the tropics and beyond. Tropical cyclones, heatwaves, extreme rainfall, droughts, and El Niño have severe effects on ecosystems and societies globally. Projecting their amplitude and frequency changes in a warming climate requires knowledge of how the tropical ocean-atmosphere system operated in the past.

We use tropical shallow-​water corals to extend the short and rather sparse instrumental record of sea surface observations at monthly resolution. Coral geochemical and isotopic records deliver quantitative information about the fluctuations of sea surface temperature and hydrology on seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales, with precise chronology. They provide a paleo-observational constraint on climate model simulations of past and future tropical ocean-atmosphere variability.

Our coral-based reconstructions of surface ocean conditions cover time intervals of the recent centuries, the Holocene, the last deglaciation, and the last interglacial warm period. Our work combines ultra high-resolution coral reconstructions, novel analytical techniques, advanced statistical methods, and Earth system modeling in order to contribute to improved projections of tropical marine climate variability and the future of coral reef ecosystems.

The MARUM Coral Paleoclimatology Group is strongly involved in national and international collaborative projects, such as the DFG Priority Programme "Tropical Climate Variability & Coral Reefs" (SPP 2299), the Future Earth - PAGES (Past Global Changes) 2k Network, and the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) - International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3).

Head

Dr. Thomas Felis

Email

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Phone

+49 421 218-65751

Room

MARUM I, 3080

Teamassistant

Sabine Sawitzki

Email

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Phone

+49 421 218-65510

Future Directions for Coral Bleaching Research

Grottoli, Hulver, Vega Thurber, Toonen, Schmeltzer, Kuffner, Barott, Baums, Castillo, Chapron, Coffroth, Combosch, Correa, Crandall, Donahue, Eirin-Lopez, Felis, Ferrier-Pagès, Harrison, Heron, Huang, Humanes, Kenkel, Krueger, Madin, Matz, McManus, Medina, Muller, Padilla-Gamiño, Putnam, Sawall, Shlesinger, Sweet, Voolstra, Weis, Wild, Wu, Future of coral bleaching research (BioScience, 2025, doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf066)

 

Achievements of Scientific Drilling in Paleosciences

Felis, Knebel, Brenner, Asami, DeLong, Hathorne, Tropical coral records of monthly ocean-temperature changes during the last deglaciation from IODP drilling (Past Global Changes Magazine, 2024, doi.org/10.22498/pages.32.2.78)

 

Science to Policy Paper Coral Reefs

Knowlton, Grottoli, Kleypas, Obura, Corcoran, de Goeij, Felis, Harding, Mayfield, Miller, Osuka, Peixoto, Randall, Voolstra, Wells, Wild, Ferse, Rebuilding Coral Reefs: A Decadal Grand Challenge (International Coral Reef Society and Future Earth Coasts, 2021, doi.org/10.53642/NRKY9386)

 

Perspectives Paper Coral Paleoclimatology

Felis, Extending the Instrumental Record of Ocean-Atmosphere Variability into the Last Interglacial Using Tropical Corals (Oceanography, 2020, doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2020.209)