Abstract ATM-9409368 Linsley, Braddock K. Dunbar, Robert B. William Marsh Rice University Title: Collection of Multi-Century Coral Records of Ocean- Atmosphere Variability from Clipperton Atoll This SGER award supports the retrieval of coral records from the remote island of Clipperton (10o 18'N, 109o 13'W) in the eastern Pacific. The goal is to collect drill cores from massive corals for climatic reconstruction. Clipperton Island is uniquely situated on the northern edge of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), in an area that has >5m of rainfall per year and is also directly influenced by El Nino events. Clipperton is the eastern most atoll in the Pacific and is perhaps the largest biogenic carbonate build-up in the eastern Pacific. Coral cores have never been collected from Clipperton Island. The collection of coral cores from Clipperton Atoll will enable comparison of the timing of interannual climatic variability with records from Panama and the Galapagos. The research will be an important step in the reconstruction of the ITCZ and ENSO in the eastern Pacific.
