Articles | Volume 13, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-267-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-267-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
29 Mar 2017
Research article |
| 29 Mar 2017
Was the Little Ice Age more or less El Niño-like than the Medieval Climate Anomaly? Evidence from hydrological and temperature proxy data
Lilo M. K. Henke
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK
F. Hugo Lambert
Department of Mathematics, College of Engineering, Mathematics and
Physical Sciences, Harrison Building, Streatham Campus, University of Exeter,
North Park Road, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK
Dan J. Charman
Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK
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23 citations as recorded by crossref.
- 300 years of hydrological records and societal responses to droughts and floods on the Pacific coast of Central America A. Guevara-Murua et al. 10.5194/cp-14-175-2018
- Himalayan fir reveals moist phase during Little Ice Age in the Kashmir region of the western Himalayas B. Chinthala et al. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108167
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- A Century of Reduced ENSO Variability During the Medieval Climate Anomaly A. Lawman et al. 10.1029/2019PA003742
- Drivers of Last Millennium Antarctic Climate Evolution in an Ensemble of Community Earth System Model Simulations O. Truax et al. 10.3390/geosciences12080299
- Impact of Pacific Walker Circulation driven by Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation on precipitation variability in the North China Monsoon Marginal Region over the past five centuries X. Zhao et al. 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2025.104913
- Holocene paleoceanographic variability in Robertson Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica: A marine record of ocean, ice sheet, and climate connectivity O. Truax et al. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108635
- Did Modern Precipitation Drivers Influence Centennial Trends in the Highlands of the Atacama Desert During the Most Recent Millennium? I. Jara et al. 10.1029/2021GL095927
- XRF analysis of Laguna Pallcacocha sediments yields new insights into Holocene El Niño development S. Mark et al. 10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117657
- The Medieval Climate Anomaly in South America S. Lüning et al. 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.10.041
- Teleconnections and relationship between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in reconstructions and models over the past millennium C. Dätwyler et al. 10.5194/cp-16-743-2020
- Enhanced North American ENSO Teleconnections During the Little Ice Age Revealed by Paleoclimate Data Assimilation S. Dee et al. 10.1029/2020GL087504
- The Medieval Climate Anomaly in Antarctica S. Lüning et al. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109251
- Assessing the hydroclimate changes in Western Himalayas during the Little Ice Age A. Singh et al. 10.1177/09596836231225727
- Large-scale climate signals of a European oxygen isotope network from tree rings D. Balting et al. 10.5194/cp-17-1005-2021
- Paleomonsoon variability during the past seven centuries: Insights from a northwest Himalayan lake S. Sengupta et al. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.112911
- Last millennium intensification of decadal and interannual river discharge cycles into the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean increases shelf productivity L. Perez et al. 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103367
- A PMIP3 narrative of modulation of ENSO teleconnections to the Indian summer monsoon by background changes in the Last Millennium C. Tejavath et al. 10.1007/s00382-019-04718-z
- Variation of the summer Asian westerly jet over the last millennium based on the PMIP3 simulations N. Jiang et al. 10.1177/0959683619883011
- Modes of climate variability: Synthesis and review of proxy-based reconstructions through the Holocene A. Hernández et al. 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103286
- Calibration Uncertainties of Tropical Pacific Climate Reconstructions over the Last Millennium K. Yun & A. Timmermann 10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0524.1
- Indian monsoon variability during the past 600 years A. Kaushik et al. 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.11.001
- Patterns of Resource Use and Isotopic Niche Overlap Among Guanaco (Lama guanicoe), Pampas Deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) and Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) in the Pampas. Ecological, Paleoenvironmental and Archaeological Implications D. Loponte & M. Corriale 10.1080/14614103.2019.1585646
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Discussed (final revised paper)
Latest update: 24 Jun 2025
Short summary
To understand future ENSO behaviour we must look at the past, but temperature and rainfall proxies (e.g. tree rings, sediment cores) appear to show different responses. We tested this by making separate multi-proxy ENSO reconstructions for precipitation and temperature and found no evidence of a disagreement between ENSO-driven changes in precipitation and temperature. While this supports our physical understanding of ENSO, the lack of good proxy data must be addressed to further explore this.
To understand future ENSO behaviour we must look at the past, but temperature and rainfall...
