Eight centuries of North Atlantic Ocean atmosphere variability

Climate in the tropical North Atlantic is controlled Largely by variations in the strength of the trade winds, the position of the Intertropical Conve rgence Zone, and sea surface temperatures. A high-resolution study of Carib bean sediments provides a subdecadally resolved record of tropical upwellin g and trade wind Variability spanning the past 825 years. These results con firm the importance of a decadal (12- to 13-year) mode of Atlantic variabil ity believed to be driven by coupled tropical ocean-atmosphere dynamics. Al though a well-defined interdecadal mode of variability does not appear to b e characteristic of the tropical Atlantic, there is evidence that century-s cale variability is substantial. The tropical Atlantic may also have been i nvolved in a major shift in Northern Hemisphere climate variability that to ok place about 700 years ago.