Persistent Positive North Atlantic Oscillation Mode Dominated the Medieval Climate Anomaly

The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was the most recent pre-industrial era warm interval of European climate, yet its driving mechanisms remain uncertain. We present here a 947-year-long multidecadal North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reconstruction and find a persistent positive NAO during the MCA. Su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Trouet, Valérie, Esper, Jan, Graham, Nicholas E., Baker, Andy, Scourse, James D., Frank, David C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2009
Subjects:
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1166349
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1166349
Description
Summary:The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was the most recent pre-industrial era warm interval of European climate, yet its driving mechanisms remain uncertain. We present here a 947-year-long multidecadal North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reconstruction and find a persistent positive NAO during the MCA. Supplementary reconstructions based on climate model results and proxy data indicate a clear shift to weaker NAO conditions into the Little Ice Age (LIA). Globally distributed proxy data suggest that this NAO shift is one aspect of a global MCA-LIA climate transition that probably was coupled to prevailing La Niña–like conditions amplified by an intensified Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the MCA.

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