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Photo ID: h27tl1	Subject: Oceans	Description
	Chemical Oceanography; Climate; El Nino Southern Oscillation; ENSO; O-18/O-16; Paleoclimatology; Physical Oceanography; Puerto Chicama; Sea Surface Temperature; SST	This graph illustrates the close correspondence between the record of the ratio of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 obtained from coral cores from Punta Pitt, Galapagos and instrumental measurements of sea surface temperatures (SST) from Puerto Chicama, Peru (8S, 79W). Notice that red spikes in the ratio record match up with red spikes in the SST record and with the yellow zones that indicate ENSO warm phases. These red areas indicate periods when water temperatures were above the average. Remember that in the Galapagos, high water temperatures indicate the eastward movement of the Pacific warm pool and the reduction of upwelling activity in the eastern Pacific. As this graph shows, the ratio of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 data is nearly as accurate as instrumental data; moreover, coral records can cover the past 500-800 years of climate change, while instrumental records are only available for the last 50-100 years in many tropical areas.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	South America; Ecuador; Galapagos; Punta Pitt
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Photo ID: h2a858	Subject: Paleontology	Description
	Climate; Coelenterata; Corals; Growth Bands; Oceanography; Paleoclimatology	This image shows two sections of a core of Pavona clavus from Urvina Bay, Galapagos. First the cores are X-rayed so that scientists can see the growth bands. Next, segments like the one on the right from Urvina Bay, Galapagos are marked for sampling: black lines represent annual bands, while blue and red lines further subdivide the year into quarters. The core is then cut along the lines and the individual segments analyzed in a laboratory for stable isotope and geochemical signals.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	South America; Ecuador; Galapagos; Urvina Bay
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Photo ID: h2a882	Subject: Oceans	Description
	Coelenterata; Corals; Cores; Paleoclimatology; Porites lobata	This image shows paleoclimatologists extracting a core with a hydraulic drill on a Porites lobata colony, Clipperton Atoll. The drilling is completed and the core segment is removed from the hole. The drill goes all the way into the coral. Next, the scientists carefully extract the core pieces, label them, and box them for safe shipment home. Back in the laboratory, the field work will be followed by new discoveries and new insights into our planet's past.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Oceans; France; North Pacific Ocean; Clipperton Atoll
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Photo ID: h2a8ca	Subject: Oceans	Description
	Calcium Carbonate; Climate; Coelenterata; Corals; Cores; Paleoclimatology; Polyps; Porites lobata	This is an image of paleoclimatologists extracting a coral core with a hydraulic drill on a Porites lobata colony. While drilling does kill the few polyps living on the core surface, the process does not damage the colony as a whole. Only the surface of a colony is alive; all of the rest is the calcium carbonate skeleton deposited by the polyps and the chemistry of that portion of skeleton is locked in forever. It is this record that paleoclimatologists are trying to unlock by drilling long cores into the coral skeleton.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Oceans; France; North Pacific Ocean; Clipperton Atoll
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Photo ID: h2a8g4	Subject: Oceans	Description
	Calcium Carbonate; Climate; Coelenterata; Corals; Cores; Hydraulic Drills; Paleoclimatology; Polyps; Porites lobata	This image shows paleoclimatologists extracting a coral core using a hydraulic drill on a Porites lobata colony. Armed with a hydraulic drill connected to a compressor on ship, they begin to take their core. The most important part of the drilling process is trying to get a core that follows the corals plane of maximum growth. The corals structure is very similar to an onion with a new ring added each year. Scientists want to drill into a coral to sample as many rings as possible so they core from the surface directly towards the center.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Oceans; France; North Pacific Ocean; Clipperton Atoll
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Photo ID: h2a8w7	Subject: Paleontology	Description
	Coelenterata; Corals; Cores; Growth Bands; Paleoclimatology; Pavona clavus	Coral skeleton formed in winter has a different density than that formed in summer because of variations in growth rates related to temperature and cloud cover conditions. Thus corals exhibit seasonal growth bands very much like those in trees. Sometimes these bands are visible to the naked eye; usually, however, they are more visible in an X-ray like this. When paleoclimatologists drill a coral core, they can count the growth bands and date samples exactly. Long cores can cover several hundred years; this portion of a core from Urvina Bay in the Galapagos Islands covers the period from 1716 to 1735 A. D. To best understand past climate, scientists need to be able to date their samples as accurately as possible. They need to know exactly when climatic changes occurred so that they can create realistic computer models of the global climate system.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	South America; Ecuador; Galapagos Islands; Urvina Bay
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Photo ID: h32dt8	Subject: People	Description
	Dunde Ice Cap; Glaciers; Ice Caps; Ice Cores; Paleoclimatology; Quelccaya Ice Cap	A research team is photographed high on the slopes of Peru's Nevado de Huascaran. While the study of Quelccaya ice cap in Peru and Dunde ice cap in China have made significant contributions to our knowledge of tropical and subtropical paleoclimatology, much remains to be learned. High on the slope's of Huascaran, the world's highest tropical mountain, scientists transport equipment to the 6048 meter mountain summit, where two 166 meter cores have been drilled to expand the record of tropical climate change both temporally and spatially. Across the globe, ice core research promises to teach us more about our planet's past and, by extension, its future.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	South America; Peru; Huanuco; Nevado de Huascaran
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Photo ID: h32dzg	Subject: Paleontology	Description
	Holocene; Ice Caps; Ice Cores; Last Glacial Maximum; Paleoclimatology; Pleistocene	The most prominent feature in the Dunde ice record is the transition between the Last Glacial Maximum (in the Pleistocene epoch) and the present Holocene epoch. Less negative oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 ratio measurements suggest that temperatures were cooler in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the Pleistocene, while high particle concentrations show that conditions were much dustier. Very low concentrations of nitrate, chloride, and sulfate during the glacial period may reflect higher precipitation rates during the Last Glacial Maximum. View Geological Time Scale for this image.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Asia; China; Qinghai; Dunde Ice Cap
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Photo ID: h32e2m	Subject: Glaciers	Description
	Drilling; Ice Ages; Ice Caps; Ice Cores; Paleoclimatology	After hauling their equipment to 5325 meters above sea level, scientists set up a small gas-powered drill. While there are minor variations in drilling technology and techniques, all drills use the same basic idea: a drill bit is lowered into the core hole and cuts out a cylinder of ice that is then carefully extracted from the core sleeve and analyzed both on site and in the laboratory. Since snow accumulates more slowly at the Dunde Ice Cap in China, ice from its 140 meter cores is significantly older than that from Quelccaya in the Peruvian Andes. While Quelccaya provides high-resolution clues to the last 1500 years of climate, Dunde stretches back over 40,000 years, well into the last ice age.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Asia; China; Qinghai; Dunde Ice Cap
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Photo ID: h32ehc	Subject: Environment	Description
	Agriculture; Arid Environment; Climate; Electrical Conductivity; Ice Caps; Ice Cores; Peruvian Civilizations; Pluvial Environment; Rainfall	Pre-historic Peruvian civilizations were predicated on agriculture. The relatively dense population depended on intensive cultivation for food, while the rulers of powerful empires like that of the Inca demanded a large agricultural surplus to underwrite their political apparatus. Successful agriculture, in turn, depended on climate. The Peruvian coast is an exceptionally dry place, and coastal civilizations could only rise during pluvial (rainy) periods. Highland cultures, on the other hand, raised crops near their elevational and climatic limit (the altiplano, it should be remembered, is higher than most Rocky Mountain peaks). Because of their dependence on cultivating crops in climatically sensitive areas, Peruvian civilizations rose and fell to the oscillations of climate.
	Photographer	Location
	NOAA Credit Line: Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	South America; Peru; Altiplano; Quelccaya Ice Cap
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