coral proxy for surface solar radiation?

Bob Buddemeier buddrw at kgs.ukans.edu
Mon May 21 13:30:16 EDT 2001


Joel,

Nice idea, but I think unlikely to pan out.  One of the things that the
coral-algal symbiosis does is adjust the population -- and in some cases the
identity -- of the photosynthesizers as a function of light level, so there is
a significant amount of feedback between the insolation and the response or
sensitivity of what we think of as the sensor.  And that is all within a
single host species, of which there are many....  So qualitatively and in the
very big picture there is a relationship, but nothing likely to satisfy a
physical scientist*.

Bob

*PS:  I am (or was) one.

Joel Norris wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm a physical scientist interested in the role of clouds in the climate
> system and recently came across an article by Anne Cohen and coauthors
> describing impacts of photosynthesis on calcification rate (she suggested
> I contact this email list).  That got me wondering if there was any way to
> infer past variations in surface solar radiation using a coral proxy.
> That would be a very useful piece of information to have for understanding
> past climate variability.  Is there a workable relationship between
> calcification, photosynthesis, and broadband insolation, or perhaps some
> other method?
>
> Joel
>
> --
> Joel Norris       Assistant Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
>
> Scripps Institution of Oceanography     email: jrnorris at ucsd.edu
> University of California, San Diego     phone: (858) 822-4420
> 9500 Gilman Drive DEPT 0224             fax: (858) 534-8561
> La Jolla, CA 92093-0224                 http://meteora.ucsd.edu/~jnorris/
>
> Delivery Address:   Scripps Institution of Oceanography
>                     8810 Shellback Way
>                     Room 440, Nierenberg Hall
>                     La Jolla, CA 92037
>
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--
Dr. Robert W. Buddemeier
Kansas Geological Survey
University of Kansas
1930 Constant Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66047 USA
Ph (1) (785) 864-2112
Fax (1) (785) 864-5317
e-mail:  buddrw at kgs.ukans.edu


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