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North Atlantic Oscillation dynamics recorded in shells of a long-lived bivalve mollusk

¹ Institute for Geology and Paleontology, INCREMENTS Research Group, Goethe University, Senckenberganlage 32-34, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
² Senckenberg Institute, Marine Research Division, Schleusenstrasse 39a, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
³ Zoological Museum, Christian Albrechts University, Hegewischstrasse 3, 24105 Kiel, Germany
⁴ Senckenberg Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
⁵ Institute for Marine Research, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
⁶ Museum of Natural History, Department of Palaeozoology, Box 50007, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden

Existing reconstructions of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (WNAO) are based on terrestrial proxies and historical documents. No direct high-resolution, long-term rec ords from marine settings are available for this major climate-dictating phenomenon, which severely affects a variety of economic aspects of our society. Here we present a 245 yr proxy WNAO index based on shells of the long-lived marine bivalve mollusk Arctica islandica. Variations in annual rates of shell growth are positively correlated with WNAO-related changes in the food supply. Maximum amplitudes in frequency bands of 7–9 and 5–7 yr fall exactly within the range of instrumental and other proxy WNAO indices. These estimates were obtained for specimens collected live, 2000 km apart, in the central North Sea and on the Norwegian Shelf. Hence, the WNAO influences hydrographic regimes of large regions of the ocean. Our study demonstrates that A. islandica can reliably reconstruct WNAO dynamics for time intervals and regions without instrumental records. Our new tool functions as a proxy for the WNAO index prior to the twentieth-century greenhouse forcing and has the potential to further validate other proxy-based WNAO records.

Key Words: bivalves • increment • North Sea • North Atlantic • climate • Holocene

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