Abstract
A speleothem record from the north-eastern Yucatán peninsula (Mexico) provides new insights into the tropical hydro-climate of the Americas between 11,040 and 9,520 a BP on up to sub-decadal scale. Despite the complex atmospheric reorganization during the end of the last deglaciation, the dominant internal leading modes of precipitation variability during the late Holocene were also active during the time of record. While multi-decadal variations were not persistent, decadal- and centennial-scale ENSO activity driven by solar forcing dominated Mesoamerican precipitation variability. Freshwater fluxes from the remnant Laurentide ice sheet into the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic have additionally modulated the regional evaporation/precipitation balance. In particular, this study underlines the importance of solar activity on tropical and subtropical climate variability through forcing of the tropical Pacific, providing a plausible scenario for observed recurrent droughts on the decadal scale throughout the Holocene.
Evidence for decreased precipitation variability in the Yucatan Peninsula during the mid-Holocene