The wind-driven meridional overturning circulation between the tropical and subtropical oceans is important for regulating decadal-scale temperature fluctuations in the Pacific Ocean and globally. An acceleration of the overturning circulation can act to reduce global surface temperature as ocean stores more heat. The equatorward low-latitude western boundary current represents a key component of the meridional circulation cell in the Pacific and a major source of water mass for the Equatorial Undercurrent, yet long-term observations of its transport are scarce. Here we demonstrate that the 15 N/ 14 N ratio recorded by Porites spp. corals in the western tropical South Pacific is sensitive to the exchanges of water masses driven by the western boundary transport. Using a 94-year coral record from the Solomon Sea, we report that the 15 N/ 14 N ratio declined as the global surface temperature rose. The record suggests that the South Pacific western boundary current has strengthened in the past century, and it may have contributed to the reported strengthening of the Equatorial Undercurrent. In addition, the 15 N/ 14 N record shows strong decadal variability, indicative of weaker equatorial Pacific upwelling and stronger western boundary transport when the eastern equatorial Pacific is in the warm stage of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.

Low‐angle normal faults (LANFs; dip <30°) accommodate kilometers of crustal extension, yet it remains unclear whether these faults can host large earthquakes or if they predominantly creep aseismically. Most active LANFs typically slip at rates of <3 mm/year. Here, we report U‐Th ages from a series of distinct levels of formerly shallow‐living corals killed by uplift‐induced emergence of the footwall of one of the world's fastest‐slipping LANFs, the Mai'iu fault in Papua New Guinea, which slips at rates of 8–12 mm/year. Coral ages and coastal morphology indicate punctuated episodic uplift events consistent with seismic slip on the Mai'iu fault. Maximum episodic uplift increments of 0.5–1.8 m imply earthquakes of Mw > 7. We present the first coral paleoseismological record of normal fault earthquakes, which constrain the timing and surface uplift patterns of multiple LANF seismic cycles and confirm that LANFs can slip in large (Mw > 7) earthquakes.

Logging data are measurements of physical properties of the formation surrounding a borehole, acquired in situ after completion of coring (wireline logging) or during drilling (Logging-While-Drilling, LWD). The range of data (resistivity, gamma radiation, velocity, density, borehole images,…) in any hole depends on the scientific objectives and operational constraints.

Climate model simulations of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) behavior for the last millennium demonstrate interdecadal to centennial changes in ENSO variability that can arise purely from stochastic processes internal to the climate system. That said, the instrumental record of ENSO does not have the temporal coverage needed to capture the full range of natural ENSO variability observed in long, unforced climate model simulations. Here we demonstrate a probabilistic framework to quantify changes in ENSO variability via histograms and probability density functions using monthly instrumental and coral‐based sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies from 1900–2005 and 1051–1150 CE. We find that reconstructed SST anomalies from modern corals from the southwest Pacific capture changes in ENSO variability that are consistent with instrumental SST data from the central equatorial Pacific. Fossil coral records indicate 100 years of relatively lower ENSO variability during part of the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Our results demonstrate that periods of reduced ENSO variability can last a century, far longer in duration than modern observations in the instrumental record of ENSO, but consistent with results from unforced climate model simulations.

Logging data are measurements of physical properties of the formation surrounding a borehole, acquired in situ after completion of coring (wireline logging) or during drilling (Logging-While-Drilling, LWD). The range of data (resistivity, gamma radiation, velocity, density, borehole images,…) in any hole depends on the scientific objectives and operational constraints.

The very large and rare Mw ~7.9 Earthquake of 3 May 2006 in the Kingdom of Tonga aroused great interest among both Tongan scientists and their colleagues in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. To investigate the earthquake we formed a collaborative research group of scientists from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and the United States. We brought in seven seismographs from Australia and the US to supplement the three-station network already in Tonga and eight GPS receivers primarily for the islands west of the earthquake epicenter. In addition, we made coastal observations to determine the regional pattern of subsidence associated with the earthquake. The GPS instruments can measure horizontal and vertical motion quite precisely, but only after the earthquake from the time of deployment onward, except for some sites on Tongatapu, Vava’u, and Lifuka that had been occupied by GPS receivers in the past. This report describes our efforts.

New radiocarbon calibration curves, IntCal04 and Marine04, have been constructed and internationally ratified to replace the terrestrial and marine components of IntCal98. The new calibration data sets extend an additional 2000 yr, from 0–26 cal kyr BP (Before Present, 0 cal BP = AD 1950), and provide much higher resolution, greater precision, and more detailed structure than IntCal98. For the Marine04 curve, dendrochronologically-dated tree-ring samples, converted with a box diffusion model to marine mixed-layer ages, cover the period from 0–10.5 cal kyr BP. Beyond 10.5 cal kyr BP, high-resolution marine data become available from foraminifera in varved sediments and U/Th-dated corals. The marine records are corrected with site-specific 14C reservoir age information to provide a single global marine mixed-layer calibration from 10.5–26.0 cal kyr BP. A substantial enhancement relative to IntCal98 is the introduction of a random walk model, which takes into account the uncertainty in both the calendar age and the 14C age to calculate the underlying calibration curve (Buck and Blackwell, this issue). The marine data sets and calibration curve for marine samples from the surface mixed layer (Marine04) are discussed here. The tree-ring data sets, sources of uncertainty, and regional offsets are presented in detail in a companion paper by Reimer et al. (this issue).

Two earthquakes, M-w 8.1 in 2007 and M-w 7.1 in 2010, hit the western province of the Solomon Islands and caused extensive damage, which motivated us to establish a temporary seismic network around the rupture zones of these earthquakes. With the available continuous seismic data recorded from eight seismic stations, we cross correlate the vertical component of ambient-noise records and calculate Rayleigh-wave group velocity dispersion curves for interstation pairs. A genetic algorithm is adopted to fit the averaged dispersion curve and invert a 1D crustal velocity model, which constitutes two layers (upper and lower crust) and a half-space (uppermost mantle). The resulting thickness values for the upper and lower crust are 6.9 and 13.5 km, respectively. The shear-wave velocities (V-S) of the upper crust, lower crust, and uppermost mantle are 2.62, 3.54, and 4: 10 km/s with V-P/V-S ratios of 1.745, 1.749, and 1.766, respectively. The differences between the predicted and observed travel times show that our 1D model (WSOLOCrust) has average 0.85- and 0.16-s improvements in travel-time residuals compared with the global iasp91 and local CRUST 1.0 models, respectively. This layered crustal velocity model for the western Solomon Islands can be further used as a referenced velocity model to locate earthquake and tremor sources as well as to perform 3D seismic tomography in this region. Electronic Supplement: Figures showing the misfit of inversion process and the comparison between observed and synthetics and the location of experiments in previous studies and tables listing information about the seismic network, parameters of the genetic algorithm (GA), information of earthquakes used in this study, and results obtained from different 1D models.

The Solomon megathrust along the western Solomon arc generated two megathrust earthquakes in the past decade (M-w 8.1 in 2007 and M-w 7.1 in 2010). To investigate the interseismic deformation and inferred coupling on the megathrust, we deployed the first continuous GPS network in the Western Solomon Islands. Our 2011-2014 GPS data and the back slip inversion model show coupling ratio as high as 73% along the southeastern 2007 rupture segment but only 10% on average along the segment of 2010 event. Based on the spatial distribution of coseismic slip, aftershock clusters, derived coupling pattern, and paleogeodetic records, we discovered the former as a semipermanent asperity and the latter as a potential megathrust barrier. We propose that a characteristic earthquake of magnitude not less than M-w 8 will recur in an interval of 100 or more years by either single or doublet earthquake.