Historical Climate off the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Abstract. The Iberian Peninsula, at North Atlantic mid-latitude and the western extreme of the European continent, is a key point for climate reconstructions. This work provides multi-proxy records measured in 8 inner-shelf sediment cores from 5 sites located between South Portugal (Algarve) and Northwest Spain (Galiza) (36 to 41 ºN) and target a regional reconstruction of climate variability during 20 the Historic period (last 2 ky).The SST records reveal a long-term scale cooling (± 1º C/ 2 ky) that ends at the beginning of the 20 th century at all latitudes. This cooling is a follow up of the cooling process that started in the early Holocene driven by a decrease in summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere.Within this long term SST variability multi-decadal/ centennial scale variability is detected along Iberia. 25The different latitudinal SST reconstructions jointly with a determined regional SST stack were compared to on-land precipitation from higher plant n-alkanes and pollen data, to assess the relationship between hydroclimate (drought and/or precipitation) and SST. Regional variability is overall in consonance with NE Spain, and other European and north Hemisphere reconstructions. Warm Clim. Past Discuss.,

Rebutal to Referee 2

“…Considering the various studies on this subject, only coccolithophores are alkenoneproducing algae (Marlowe et al, 1990;Marlowe et al, 1984;Volkman et al, 1995).…”

Late Pleistocene climate of the northern Iberian Peninsula: New insights from palaeoglaciers at Fuentes Carrionas (Cantabrian Mountains)

“…Sea‐surface temperatures (SSTs) from alkenones and foraminifera in two cores near the NW Iberian coast (core MD99‐2331 42.15°N, −9.69°W; 2110‐m depth, Naughton et al , ) and in the Bay of Biscaye (core MD04‐2845, 45.35°N, −5.216667°W, −4100 m, Sánchez Goñi et al , ), respectively, as well as chironomid‐inferred July temperatures (Muñoz Sobrino et al , ) provided more palaeotemperature proxies. Current annual SSTs for the NW Iberian Peninsula coasts are around 15.5°C (Abrantes et al , ), which mirrors the MAAT for the NW Iberian coast, e.g. La Coruña (43.36°N, −8.40°W; 14.2°C) or Vigo (42.23°N, −8.72°W; 14.9°C).…”