Middle to late Holocene cooling and increased zonal asymmetry in the mid-latitude North Atlantic

Middle to late Holocene cooling and increased zonal asymmetry in the mid-latitude North Atlantic
Weimin Si, Timothy Herbert, and John R. Toggweiler
Clim. Past, 22, 1729–1740, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1729-2026, 2026
Transient climate models simulate warming over the past 5000 years due to a 20 ppm CO2 rise, yet paleo-proxies indicate cooling. In this study, we examine the mid-latitude North Atlantic, where model-data mismatch is largest. Our analysis links Late Holocene cooling to increased zonal SST (Sea Surface Temperature) asymmetry, likely from basin-scale reorganization of inter-gyre circulation. Transient models, however, do not to capture this spatial pattern and associated circulation changes.

Source: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1729-2026