Solar Cycles Forced Southern Westerly Wind Migrations During the Holocene

Abstract

Abstract Despite small direct changes to radiative forcing, solar sunspot cycles are observed in climate records because of climate system amplification that primarily affects wind and precipitation belts. We present a proxy record resolving the dominant sub‐millennial periodicities across the entire Holocene in the Southern Westerly Winds (SWW), whose migrations are linked to ocean‐atmosphere heat and carbon exchange. We use X‐ray fluorescence core scanning to examine a rapidly accumulating sediment record (6 m/kyr) recovered from the Chilean margin, yielding unprecedented <2‐year resolution for the Holocene. We show that variations in terrigenous inputs to the site are linked to precipitation, which is controlled by SWW latitudinal migrations. Superimposed on a long‐term decreasing trend throughout the Holocene, we detect significant centennial cycles in the terrestrial input consistent with solar periodicities. We then propose a mechanism by which southward (northward) SWW movement in response to increasing (decreasing) total solar irradiance cools (warms) Antarctic temperatures.