Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

A regime shift in the Sun-Climate connection with the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly

Smirnov, D.A.; Breitenbach, S.F.M.; Feulner, G.; Lechleitner, F.A.; Prufer, K.M.; Baldini, J.U.L.; Marwan, N.; Kurths, J.

A regime shift in the Sun-Climate connection with the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly Thumbnail


Authors

D.A. Smirnov

S.F.M. Breitenbach

G. Feulner

F.A. Lechleitner

K.M. Prufer

N. Marwan

J. Kurths



Abstract

Understanding the influence of changes in solar activity on Earth’s climate and distinguishing it from other forcings, such as volcanic activity, remains a major challenge for palaeoclimatology. This problem is best approached by investigating how these variables influenced past climate conditions as recorded in high precision paleoclimate archives. In particular, determining if the climate system response to these forcings changes through time is critical. Here we use the Wiener-Granger causality approach along with well-established cross-correlation analysis to investigate the causal relationship between solar activity, volcanic forcing, and climate as reflected in well-established Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) rainfall proxy records from Yok Balum Cave, southern Belize. Our analysis reveals a consistent influence of volcanic activity on regional Central American climate over the last two millennia. However, the coupling between solar variability and local climate varied with time, with a regime shift around 1000–1300 CE after which the solar-climate coupling weakened considerably.

Citation

Smirnov, D., Breitenbach, S., Feulner, G., Lechleitner, F., Prufer, K., Baldini, J., …Kurths, J. (2017). A regime shift in the Sun-Climate connection with the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Scientific Reports, 7, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11340-8

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 18, 2017
Online Publication Date Sep 11, 2017
Publication Date Sep 11, 2017
Deposit Date Sep 12, 2017
Publicly Available Date Sep 13, 2017
Journal Scientific Reports
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11340-8

Files

Published Journal Article (1.6 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.




You might also like



Downloadable Citations