Palaeo-productivity record from Norwegian Sea enables North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reconstruction for the last 8000 years

• Published in: npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
• Main Authors: Becker, Lukas W. M., Sejrup, Hans Petter, Hjelstuen, Berit O., Haflidason, Haflidi, Kjennbakken, Heidi, Werner, Johannes P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2020
• Subjects: Atmospheric Science; Environmental Chemistry; Global and Planetary Change; Norwegian Sea; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-00147-6; http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-00147-6.pdf; http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-00147-6

Abstract The North Atlantic Oscillation is the dominant atmospheric driver of North Atlantic climate variability with phases corresponding to droughts and cold spells in Europe. Here, we exploit a suggested anti-correlation of North Atlantic Oscillation-phase and north-eastern North Atlantic primary productivity by investigation of south-eastern Norwegian Sea sediment cores spanning the last 8000 years. Age model uncertainties between 2 and 13 years for the period 1992–1850 AD allows for the proxy to observational data calibration. Our data suggest that Ca/Fe core-scanning results reflect sedimentary CaCO 3 variability in the region. Cross-correlating the Ca/Fe record with nearby phytoplankton counts and dissolved O 2 data suggests that Ca/Fe can be used as a proxy for primary productivity variability in the region. Our data support an anti-correlation of primary productivity to the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index. Hence, we propose a sub-decadally resolved palaeo-North Atlantic Oscillation reconstruction based on an open-ocean record spanning the last 8000 years.