Hundreds of coral paleoclimate records have been developed over the past several decades, significantly extending the instrumental record and improving our understanding of tropical climate variability and change in otherwise data-poor regions. Coral “proxy” records measure the change in skeletal geochemistry or growth as a function of ocean conditions at the time of calcification. Over the past decade (since 2010), new syntheses have identified coherent patterns of warming and variability that are unique within the paleo record (albeit not yet unprecedented). In turn, ocean warming and acidification have had a detrimental impact on coral growth, with reduced extension and increased stress banding. Methodological advances have constrained uncertainties and improved our understanding of the processes by which climate information is archived in coral skeletons. Models that describe these processes have been developed to facilitate proxy-model comparisons, identify sources of uncertainties, and provide a benchmark upon which forced changes may be detected within a highly variable climate system. Finally, several innovative new proxies have expanded the climate and environmental information that may be obtained from corals, including: seawater pH, aragonite saturation, anthropogenic nitrogen, runoff, and trade winds. Further extending established and novel proxies should remain a priority, along with seawater monitoring and density measurements with which to screen and calibrate these records. As this critical climate archive is increasingly threatened by warming and ocean acidification, the community must work closely together to collect this invaluable climate data in an ecologically and culturally sensitive manner, before it is too late.

中文翻译：

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珊瑚骨骼的环境记录：十年的新见解和创新

在过去的几十年中，已经开发了数百个珊瑚古气候记录，显着扩展了仪器记录，并提高了我们对热带气候变率和其他数据匮乏地区变化的理解。珊瑚“代理”记录测量骨骼地球化学或生长的变化，作为钙化时海洋条件的函数。在过去十年中（自 2010 年以来），新的合成已经确定了古记录中独一无二的变暖和变率的连贯模式（尽管还不是史无前例的）。反过来，海洋变暖和酸化对珊瑚生长产生了不利影响，延伸减少和应力带增加。方法学的进步限制了不确定性，并提高了我们对气候信息在珊瑚骨骼中存档过程的理解。已经开发了描述这些过程的模型，以促进代理模型比较，识别不确定性的来源，并提供可以在高度可变的气候系统中检测到强制变化的基准。最后，一些创新的新代理扩展了可能从珊瑚中获得的气候和环境信息，包括：海水 pH 值、文石饱和度、人为氮、径流和信风。进一步扩展已建立的和新的代理，以及用于筛选和校准这些记录的海水监测和密度测量，仍应作为优先事项。