Coupled Modes of North Atlantic Ocean‐Atmosphere Variability and the Onset of the Little Ice Age

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Anchukaitis, Kevin J., Cook, Edward R., Cook, Benjamin I., Pearl, Jessie, D'Arrigo, Rosanne, Wilson, Rob
• Other Authors: Univ Arizona, Dept Geosci, Univ Arizona, Lab Tree Ring Res, Univ Arizona, Sch Geog & Dev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION 2019
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/636265; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl084350

Hydroclimate extremes in North America, Europe, and the Mediterranean are linked to ocean and atmospheric circulation anomalies in the Atlantic, but the limited length of the instrumental record prevents complete identification and characterization of these patterns of covariability especially at decadal to centennial time scales. Here we analyze the coupled patterns of drought variability on either sides of the North Atlantic Ocean basin using independent climate field reconstructions spanning the last millennium in order to detect and attribute epochs of coherent basin‐wide moisture anomalies to ocean and atmosphere processes. A leading mode of broad‐scale moisture variability is characterized by distinct patterns of North Atlantic atmosphere circulation and sea surface temperatures. We infer a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation and colder Atlantic sea surface temperatures in the middle of the fifteenth century, coincident with weaker solar irradiance and prior to strong volcanic forcing associated with the early Little Ice Age. U.S. National Science Foundation P2C2 program [AGS-1501856, AGS-1502224]; NASA Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction programNational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) [NASA 80NSSC17K0265] Public domain article This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [e-mail].