A chronology of El niño events from primary documentary sources in northern Peru

The authors present a chronology of El Niño (EN) events based on documentary records from northern Peru. The chronology, which covers the period 1550-1900, is constructed mainly from primary sources from the city of Trujillo (Peru), the Archivo General de Indias in Seville (Spain), and the Archivo G...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: García Herrera, Ricardo Francisco, Díaz, H. F., García, R. R., Prieto, M. R., Barriopedro Cepero, David, Moyano, R., Hernández Martín, Emiliano
Format: article
Publication Date:2008
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/50976
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/50976
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:52
Southern-oscillation
Variability
Climate
Teleconnections
Centuries
Evolution
Enso
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
Física atmosférica
2501 Ciencias de la Atmósfera
Description
Summary:The authors present a chronology of El Niño (EN) events based on documentary records from northern Peru. The chronology, which covers the period 1550-1900, is constructed mainly from primary sources from the city of Trujillo (Peru), the Archivo General de Indias in Seville (Spain), and the Archivo General de la Nacion in Lima (Peru), supplemented by a reassessment of documentary evidence included in previously published literature. The archive in Trujillo has never been systematically evaluated for information related to the occurrence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Abundant rainfall and river discharge correlate well with EN events in the area around Trujillo, which is very dry during most other years. Thus, rain and flooding descriptors, together with reports of failure of the local fishery, are the main indicators of EN occurrence that the authors have searched for in the documents. A total of 59 EN years are identified in this work. This chronology is compared with the two main previous documentary EN chronologies and with ENSO indicators derived from proxy data other than documentary sources. Overall, the seventeenth century appears to be the least active EN period, while the 1620s, 1720s, 1810s, and 1870s are the most active decades. The results herein reveal long-term fluctuations in warm ENSO activity that compare reasonably well with low-frequency variability deduced from other proxy data.

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