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Reconstruction of annual winter rainfall since A.D.1579 in central-eastern Spain based on calcite laminated sediment from Lake La Cruz

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Abstract

We present the first winter (December to March) rainfall reconstruction based in a novel proxy, the thickness of annual calcite laminations preserved in Lake La Cruz (central–eastern Spain). A previous calibration analysis between laminae thickness and the instrumental data series (1950 to present) indicated a highly significant correlation with winter rainfall. Therefore this study attempts the winter rainfall reconstruction since the onset of laminations (1579 a.d.) by means of the calibration function previously developed. The verification analysis between inferred annual values and earlier instrumental data (1859–1949) confirms the suitability of this novel proxy and the reliability of the series reconstructed. The reconstructed series show the fluctuating character of winter rainfall in the western Mediterranean area; interdecadal dry periods alternated with wetter periods following, in a board sense, the pattern recorded by documentary sources in other regions of the Iberian Peninsula. At present times regional winter rainfall anomalies are highly correlated with the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). However the time series analysis showed the dominance of nonstationary components at high frequencies of the climate signal over the last four centuries suggesting that the connection between winter rainfall and the NAO has not been stable over time and also other modes of variability, not only NAO, may have conditioned winter rainfall variability.

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Author notes

  1. Lidia Romero-Viana

    Present address: Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24, Haus 27, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Ecology and Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    Lidia Romero-Viana, Antonio Camacho, Eduardo Vicente & M. Rosa Miracle

  2. Institute of Earth Sciences “Jaume Almera”. CSIC, C/Lluis Solé i Sabarís, s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Ramon Julià & Martin Schimmel

Authors
  1. Lidia Romero-Viana
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  2. Ramon Julià
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Correspondence to Lidia Romero-Viana.

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Romero-Viana, L., Julià, R., Schimmel, M. et al. Reconstruction of annual winter rainfall since A.D.1579 in central-eastern Spain based on calcite laminated sediment from Lake La Cruz. Climatic Change 107, 343–361 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9966-7

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