The SISAL database: a global resource to document oxygen and carbon isotope records from speleothems

Atsawawaranunt, Kamolphat; Comas-Bru, Laia; Mozhdehi, Sahar Amirnezhad; Deininger, Michael; Harrison, Sandy P.; Baker, Andy; Boyd, Meighan; Kaushal, Nikita; Ahmad, Syed Masood; Brahim, Yassine Ait; Arienzo, Monica; Bajo, Petra; Braun, Kerstin; Burstyn, Yuval; Chawchai, Sakonvan; Duan, Wuhui; Hatvani, István Gábor; Hu, Jun; Kern, Zoltán; Labuhn, Inga; Lachniet, Matthew; Lechleitner, Franziska A.; Lorrey, Andrew; Pérez-Mejías, Carlos; Pickering, Robyn; Scroxton, Nick; Working Group Members, SISAL

Abstract

Stable isotope records from speleothems provide information on past climate changes, most particularly information that can be used to reconstruct past changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation. These records are increasingly being used to provide “out-of-sample” evaluations of isotope-enabled climate models. SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) is an international working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation. The SISAL database contains data for individual speleothems, grouped by cave system. Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon (δ 18O, δ 13C) measurements are referenced by distance from the top or bottom of the speleothem. Additional tables provide information on dating, including information on the dates used to construct the original age model and sufficient information to assess the quality of each data set and to erect a standardized chronology across different speleothems. The metadata table provides location information, information on the full range of measurements carried out on each speleothem and information on the cave system that is relevant to the interpretation of the records, as well as citations for both publications and archived data. The compiled data are available at https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.147.

Citation

Atsawawaranunt, K., Comas-Bru, L., Mozhdehi, S. A., Deininger, M., Harrison, S. P., Baker, A., …Working Group Members, S. (2018). The SISAL database: a global resource to document oxygen and carbon isotope records from speleothems. Earth System Science Data, 10(3), 1687-1713. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2018-17

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 21, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 18, 2018
• Journal: Earth System Science Data
• Print ISSN: 1866-3508
• Electronic ISSN: 1866-3516
• Publisher: Copernicus Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1687-1713
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2018-17