Sand mass accumulation rate as a proxy for wind regimes in the SW Barents Sea during the past 3 ka

Aeolian sand mass accumulation rates were determined in a coastal mire complex on the north Norwegian island Sørøya. This measure of aeolian activity is used as a proxy for past storm intensity in the SW Barents Sea region, at least until the seventeenth century when human activities began to obscure the natural signal. Aeolian erosion started to increase in the sixth century and consistently high values are recorded from the eleventh century onwards. Periods of relatively increased aeolian activity can be seen >1200—800 BC, 550—150 BC, AD 500—850, AD 1000—1400 and AD 1700—2000. Increased aeolian activity here indicates a higher frequency of east-tracking storm systems at 70°N. Potential causes for such conditions are increased advection of Atlantic water and intensification and/or northward displacement of the main winter storm tracks, normally associated with moist westerlies and positive NAO conditions. Other noteworthy climatic events are: (1) a short but severe wet spell is recorded in the late tenth century, marking the onset of a more oceanic climatic period; (2) what seems to be an exceptionally dry, cold and calm period in the centuries around AD 0, a climatic amelioration discernible from the Alps to the Arctic and America; and (3) for the last 1500 years a cyclicity of 150—200 years can be seen. Comparison with several European marine and terrestrial proxy records suggested that the main shifts in aeolian activity are part of a continental-scale climatic system, and highlights the causal link(s) between oceanic circulation, coastal wind pattern, and continental atmospheric conditions.