Abstract
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Ocean–atmosphere interactions in the tropics have farreaching
consequences for climate variability across the
globe. The tropics drive heat transfer to the poles, and tropical
inter-annual oscillations such as the El Niño-Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean dipole (IOD), via
atmospheric teleconnections, affect rainfall patterns and
climate conditions in areas far beyond the tropics
(Ropelewski and Halpert, 1987), causing major socioeconomic
impacts. Monitoring efforts have focused on
improving observations and understanding of tropical climate
variability, with the view to refining modeling of the
tropical oceans and atmosphere. Despite these efforts, most
instrumental records span only the past few decades and do
not capture the full range of tropical climate variability, limiting
our ability to model future changes. Coral paleoclimatology
offers the prospect to extend instrumental records of
tropical climate variability and can provide unique insights
into tropical ocean–atmosphere interactions.