CP Climate of the Past CP Clim. Past 1814-9332 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/cp-8-1367-2012 Holocene climate variability in north-eastern Italy: potential influence of the NAO and solar activity recorded by speleothem data Scholz D. 1 Frisia S. 2 Borsato A. 2 3 Spötl C. 4 Fohlmeister J. 5 Mudelsee M. 6 7 Miorandi R. 3 Mangini A. 5 Institute for Geosciences, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Becherweg 21, 55128 Mainz, Germany School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan 2308 NSW, Australia Museo delle Scienze, via Calepina 14, 38122 Trento, Italy Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, Leopold-Franzens-Universität, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany Climate Risk Analysis, Schneiderberg 26, 30167 Hannover, Germany Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Climate Science Division, Bussestrasse 24, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany 27 08 2012 8 4 1367 1383 Copyright: © 2012 D. Scholz et al. 2012 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/8/1367/2012/cp-8-1367-2012.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/8/1367/2012/cp-8-1367-2012.pdf

Here we present high-resolution stable isotope and lamina thickness profiles as well as radiocarbon data for the Holocene stalagmite ER 76 from Grotta di Ernesto (north-eastern Italy), which was dated by combined U-series dating and lamina counting. ER 76 grew between 8 ka (thousands of years before 2000 AD) and today, with a hiatus from 2.6 to 0.4 ka. <br><br> Data from nine meteorological stations in Trentino show a significant influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on winter temperature and precipitation in the cave region. Spectral analysis of the stable isotope signals of ER 76 reveals significant peaks at periods of 110, 60–70, 40–50, 32–37 and around 25 a. Except for the cycle between 32 and 37 a all periodicities have corresponding peaks in power spectra of solar variability, and the 25-a cycle may correspond to NAO variability. This suggests that climate variability in northern Italy was influenced by both solar activity and the NAO during the Holocene. <br><br> Six periods of warm winter climate in the cave region were identified. These are centred at 7.9, 7.4, 6.5, 5.5, 4.9 and 3.7 ka, and their duration ranges from 100 to 400 a. The two oldest warm phases coincide with the deposition of sapropel S1 in the Mediterranean Sea indicating that the climate in the cave region was influenced by this prominent pluvial phase in the Mediterranean area. For the younger warm phases it is difficult to establish a supra-regional climate pattern, and some of them may, thus, reflect regional climate variability. This highlights the complexity of regional and supra-regional scale Holocene climate patterns.

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