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Regional atmospheric circulation shifts induced by a grand solar minimum
- Celia Martin-Puertas1,
- Katja Matthes2,3,
- Achim Brauer1,
- Raimund Muscheler4,
- Felicitas Hansen2,5,
- Christof Petrick2,3,
- Ala Aldahan6,7,
- Göran Possnert6 &
- …
- Bas van Geel8
Nature Geosciencevolume 5, pages397–401 (2012)Cite this article
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Abstract
Large changes in solar ultraviolet radiation can indirectly affect climate1 by inducing atmospheric changes. Specifically, it has been suggested that centennial-scale climate variability during the Holocene epoch was controlled by the Sun2,3. However, the amplitude of solar forcing is small when compared with the climatic effects and, without reliable data sets, it is unclear which feedback mechanisms could have amplified the forcing. Here we analyse annually laminated sediments of Lake Meerfelder Maar, Germany, to derive variations in wind strength and the rate of10Be accumulation, a proxy for solar activity, from 3,300 to 2,000 years before present. We find a sharp increase in windiness and cosmogenic10Be deposition 2,759 ± 39 varve years before present and a reduction in both entities 199 ± 9 annual layers later. We infer that the atmospheric circulation reacted abruptly and in phase with the solar minimum. A shift in atmospheric circulation in response to changes in solar activity is broadly consistent with atmospheric circulation patterns in long-term climate model simulations, and in reanalysis data that assimilate observations from recent solar minima into a climate model. We conclude that changes in atmospheric circulation amplified the solar signal and caused abrupt climate change about 2,800 years ago, coincident with a grand solar minimum.
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Acknowledgements
C.M-P. acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The work of K.M., F.H. and C.P. has been carried out within the Helmholtz University Young Investigators Group NATHAN financially supported by the Helmholtz-Association through the President’s Initiative and Networking Fund, the GFZ Potsdam and by FU Berlin and now transferred to the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR). The model calculations have been performed at the Deutsche Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ) Hamburg. R.M. is supported by the Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA) through the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. This study is a contribution to the Helmholtz-Association climate initiative REKLIM (Topic 8 ‘Rapid Climate Change from Proxy Data’). The authors thank N. Dräger and F. Ott for varve counting, A. Heinrich for the graphical support and S. Engels for valuable comments.
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Authors and Affiliations
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg D-14473, Potsdam, Germany
Celia Martin-Puertas & Achim Brauer
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 1.3 Earth System Modelling, Telegrafenberg D-14473, Potsdam, Germany
Katja Matthes, Felicitas Hansen & Christof Petrick
Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
Katja Matthes & Christof Petrick
Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
Raimund Muscheler
Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Meteorologie, Carl-Heinrich-Becker Weg 6-10, 12165 Berlin, Germany
Felicitas Hansen
Department of Earth Science and Tandem Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36 and SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden
Ala Aldahan & Göran Possnert
Geology Department, United Arab Emirates University, 17551 Al Ain, UAE
Ala Aldahan
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bas van Geel
- Celia Martin-Puertas
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- Katja Matthes
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- Achim Brauer
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- Raimund Muscheler
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- Felicitas Hansen
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- Christof Petrick
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- Ala Aldahan
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- Göran Possnert
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- Bas van Geel
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Contributions
C.M-P. led the writing of the manuscript and was responsible for sediment core data analyses. A.B. led the coring campaign and contributed to varve analyses and chronology. C.M-P., A.B., R.M. and B.v.G. jointly interpreted the proxy data. K.M. was responsible for climate model simulations. K.M., F.H. and C.P. performed the climate model simulations and interpreted the reanalysis data. A.A. and G.P. measured the10Be samples. All authors contributed to the discussion and the writing of the final manuscript. A.B. and C.M-P. conceived and designed the study.
Corresponding author
Correspondence toCelia Martin-Puertas.
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Martin-Puertas, C., Matthes, K., Brauer, A.et al. Regional atmospheric circulation shifts induced by a grand solar minimum.Nature Geosci5, 397–401 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1460
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