A major Holocene ENSO anomaly during the Medieval period

Abstract

Here, we present a high resolution marine El Niño flood record from Peru. A period of extreme drought without strong flooding occurred from A.D. 800-1250. Anomalous precipitation patterns characterized the entire Indo-Pacific ENSO domain, with dry events in the northern Arabian Sea and the mid-latitudes of both Americas, coinciding with wet periods in the Atlantic Cariaco Basin. The occurrence of contemporaneous moisture anomalies in other archives in the ENSO region highlights the role of El Niño strength in global climate evolution during the late Medieval period when temperature reconstructions show a rather heterogeneous pattern. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.