Persistent Positive North Atlantic Oscillation Mode Dominated the Medieval Climate Anomaly
Abstract
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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J.E., D.C.F., and J.D.S. were supported by the European Commission MILLENNIUM Integrated Project (grant 017008) and J.E. and D.C.F. by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Centre for Competence in Climate Research (NCCR-Climate). N.E.G. is grateful for support from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (grant NA06OA-R4310120), and J.D.S. acknowledges a Royal Society–Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. We thank C. Ammann, E. R. Cook, D. Lund, J. Luterbacher, M.-A. Sicre, J. Smith, D. Stephenson, and three anonymous referees for supplying data and useful suggestions.
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Published In
Science
Volume 324 | Issue 5923
3 April 2009
3 April 2009
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 24 September 2008
Accepted: 19 February 2009
Published in print: 3 April 2009
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www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/324/5923/78/DC1
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