Assessing the signals of the Hale solar cycle in temperature proxy records from Northern Fennoscandia

Abstract Eight proxy records of Northern Fennoscandian summer temperature variability were analyzed for the AD 1700–2000 period. Stable and statistically significant correlation between the summer temperature reconstructions and a quasi 22-year Hale solar cycle was found to be present through the entire study period. The revealed solar–climatic link is a result of the effect of a weak solar cycle signal on a climatic system having internal bi-decadal variability. Precise physical mechanisms to explain this link are far from clear but galactic cosmic ray flux appears a probable physical agent to mediate the solar effect to the lower troposphere. No evidence of a link between Northern Fennoscandian temperature and quasi 20-year planetary-tidal cycle was found.