Holocene atmosphere-ocean interactions: records from Greenland and the Aegean Sea

Abstract.

We compare paleoclimate proxy records from central Greenland and the Aegean Sea to offer new insights into the causes, timing, and mechanisms of Holocene atmosphere-ocean interactions. A direct atmospheric link is revealed between Aegean sea surface temperature (SST) and high-latitude climate. The major Holocene events in our proxies of Aegean SST and winter/spring intensity of the Siberian High (GISP2 K⁺ record) follow an ∼2300 year spacing, recognised also in the Δ¹⁴C record and in worldwide Holocene glacier advance phases, suggesting a solar modulation of climate. We argue that the primary atmospheric response involved decadal-centennial fluctuations in the meridional pressure gradient, driving Aegean SST events via changes in the strength, duration, and/or frequency of northerly polar/continental air outbreaks over the basin. The observed natural variability should be accounted for in predictions of future climate change, and our timeframe for the Aegean climate events in addition provides an independent chronostratigraphic argument to Middle Eastern archaeological studies.