Coral Core main content.

Coral Core

Part of Hall of Planet Earth.

Coral core in the Hall of Planet Earth AMNH/D. Finnin

Clipperton Atoll, eastern Pacific

Some organisms record climate from the time and place they lived. This section of a coral colony (Porites lobata), which grew between 1937 and 1994, recorded conditions in the eastern Pacific Ocean during at least 10 El Niño events.

Provided by Dr. Brad Linsley, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University[