A speleothem record from Portugal reveals phases of increased winter precipitation in western Iberia during the Holocene

The European climate during the Holocene period is characterised by frequent changes of temperature and precipitation. The North Atlantic plays a major role as a driver for European climate and is a dominant precipitation source, particularly for the western European and north African realm. Atmosph...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Zilhão, João, 1957-, Souto, Pedro, Rodrigues, Filipa, Sanz Borràs, Montserrat, Daura Luján, Joan, Hoffmann, Dirk L., Benson, Alexa
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/207229
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/207229
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Holocè
Península Ibèrica
Paleoclimatologia
Precipitacions (Meteorologia)
Holocene
Iberian Peninsula
Paleoclimatology
Precipitations (Meteorology)
Description
Summary:The European climate during the Holocene period is characterised by frequent changes of temperature and precipitation. The North Atlantic plays a major role as a driver for European climate and is a dominant precipitation source, particularly for the western European and north African realm. Atmospheric pressure gradients over the Atlantic (North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO), Atlantic circulation patterns (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, AMO) or positioning of the Atlantic jet stream have been suggested to be responsible for precipitation patterns across western Europe. However, proxy data provide an inconsistent picture on how precipitation responds to changes in the Atlantic realm such as changes of Atlantic temperature</p><p>(IRD), atmospheric pressure (NAO), water circulation (AMO) or the jet stream. Here we present a record of speleothem-based winter precipitation amount from Portugal. The record covers most of the Holocene and demonstrates that wetter conditions were synchronous in western and southern Iberia during early and mid Holocene. The record also shows a correlation between increased winter precipitation amount in western Iberia and Atlantic cooling, evidenced by Bond events, between 10 and 4 ka.