Split westerlies over Europe in the early Little Ice Age

Hsun-Ming Hu; Chuan-Chou Shen; John C H Chiang; Valerie Trouet; Véronique Michel; Hsien-Chen Tsai; Patricia Valensi; Christoph Spötl; Elisabetta Starnini; Marta Zunino; Wei-Yi Chien; Wen-Hui Sung; Yu-Tang Chien; Ping Chang; Robert Korty

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32654-w

Split westerlies over Europe in the early Little Ice Age

Nat Commun. 2022 Aug 20;13(1):4898. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32654-w.

Authors

Hsun-Ming Hu^{1

2}, Chuan-Chou Shen^{3

4}, John C H Chiang^{5

6}, Valerie Trouet⁷, Véronique Michel^{8

9}, Hsien-Chen Tsai^{1

2}, Patricia Valensi^{10

11}, Christoph Spötl¹², Elisabetta Starnini^{13

14}, Marta Zunino¹⁵, Wei-Yi Chien^{1

2}, Wen-Hui Sung^{1

2}, Yu-Tang Chien¹⁶, Ping Chang¹⁷, Robert Korty¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC.
² Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC.
³ High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC. river@ntu.edu.tw.
⁴ Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC. river@ntu.edu.tw.
⁵ Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁶ Research Institute for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan, ROC.
⁷ Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
⁸ Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, Nice, 06300, France.
⁹ Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, OCA, IRD, Géoazur, 06560, Valbonne, France.
¹⁰ HNHP, UMR 7194: CNRS-MNHN-UPVD, Paris, 75013, France.
¹¹ Fondation IPH, Laboratoire de Préhistoire Nice-Côte d'Azur, Nice, 06300, France.
¹² Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria.
¹³ Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge, University of Pisa, Pisa, 56126, Italy.
¹⁴ Archaeological Superintendency of Liguria, Genova, 16126, Italy.
¹⁵ Toirano Cave, Piazzale D. Maineri 1, Toirano (SV), 17055, Italy.
¹⁶ National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, New Taipei City, 23143, Taiwan, ROC.
¹⁷ 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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Arctic Regions
Climate Change
Climate*
Europe
Ice Cover*