Holocene Caribbean climate variability reconstructed from speleothems from western Cuba [Elektronische Ressource] / presented by Claudia Fensterer

Dissertationsubmitted to theCombined Faculties for the Natural Sciences and for Mathematicsof the Ruperto-Carola University of Heidelberg, Germanyfor the degree ofDoctor of Natural Sciencespresented byDiplom-Physikerin Claudia Fenstererborn in Landau i. d. PfalzOral examination: 01.02.2011Holocene Caribbean Climate Variabilityreconstructed from Speleothems from Western CubaReferees: Prof. Dr. Augusto ManginiProf. Dr. Werner Aeschbach-HertigAbstractProxy records o er a high potential tool to investigate past climate variability. Stalagmitesas a natural archive have the advantage that they are absolutely datable and past changes in18precipitation or temperature can be highly resolved by the use of stable isotopes such as O13and C.This study uses three stalagmites from north-western Cuba to investigate past precipitationvariability in the Northern Caribbean. The records cover the whole Holocene and reveal vari-ability on several time scales. Frequency analysis initially suggest solar forcing as a main driver,but it is shown that a high correlation to Northern Atlantic sea surface temperature, namelythe Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, exist. This connection is visible on multidecadal as wellas millennial time scales, i. e. the Bond cycles. During North Atlantic cold events, such as theLittle Ice Age, the Bond events, the 8.2 ka event and the Younger Dryas, the Cuban recordsshow drier conditions.