Split westerlies over Europe in the early Little Ice Age

Hsun-Ming Hu (1, 2) , Chuan-Chou Shen (1, 3) , John Chiang (4) , Valerie Trouet (5) , Véronique Michel (6, 7) , Hsien-Chen Tsai (1, 3) , Patricia Valensi (8, 9) , Christoph Spötl (10) , Elisabetta Starnini (11, 12) , Marta Zunino (13) , Wei-Yi Chien (1, 2) , Wen-Hui Sung (1, 3) , Yu-Tang Chien (14) , Ping Chang (15) , Robert Korty (15, 6)

1 High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC)
2 Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University
3 Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University
4 Department of geography, University of California
5 LTRR - Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research [University of Arizona]
6 CEPAM - Culture et Environnements, Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age
7 GEOAZUR 7329 - Géoazur
8 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
9 Fondation I.P.H
10 Universität Innsbruck [Innsbruck]
11 University of Pisa - Università di Pisa
12 Archaeological Superintendency of Liguria
13 Toirano Cave, Piazzale D. Maineri 1, Toirano
14 NCDR - National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction
15 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

Abstract The Little Ice Age (LIA; ca. 1450–1850 C.E.) is the best documented cold period of the past millennium, characterized by high-frequency volcanism, low solar activity, and high variability of Arctic sea-ice cover. Past studies of LIA Atlantic circulation changes have referenced the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), but recent studies have noted that LIA climate patterns appear to possess complexity not captured by an NAO analogue. Here, we present a new precipitation-sensitive stalagmite record from northern Italy that covers the past 800 years. We show that in the early LIA (1470–1610 C.E.), increased atmospheric ridging over northern Europe split the climatological westerlies away from central and northern Europe, possibly caused by concurrent Artic sea-ice reduction. With ongoing ice melting in the northern high latitudes and decreasing solar irradiance in the coming years, the early LIA may potentially serve as an analogue for European hydroclimatic conditions in the coming decades.

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Etudes de l'environnement; Climatologie

Hsun-Ming Hu, Chuan-Chou Shen, John Chiang, Valerie Trouet, Véronique Michel, et al.. Split westerlies over Europe in the early Little Ice Age. Nature Communications, 2022, 13 (1), pp.4898. ⟨10.1038/s41467-022-32654-w⟩. ⟨hal-03761447⟩