Holocene hydrological changes in Europe and the role of the North Atlantic ocean circulation from a speleothem perspective

Abstract Societal concerns about future hydroclimate changes urge a thorough understanding of the governing processes. Here, an analysis of Middle and Late Holocene speleothem-based hydroclimate reconstructions and paleoclimate model simulations reveals sub-millennial fluctuations in the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation in the European and Mediterranean regions, that complements previous dendrochronological and pollen-based reconstructions with an improved temporal resolution. Although insolation forcing is the primary driver of Holocene hydroclimate changes in Europe on a multimillennial scale, the evaluation of the principal component analysis of speleothem records and correlations with sea surface temperature data indicates that North Atlantic ocean circulation played a significant role in the sub-millennial variation of continental moisture transport, with an increasing importance during the Late Holocene. The combined evaluation of speleothem-based data, climate simulations and sea surface temperature records therefore advances our understanding of the governing processes of Holocene hydroclimate changes in the European and Mediterranean regions.