Climate Proxy Data Research Articles

Coralline red algae as high-resolution climate recorders

Most high-resolution, proxy-based paleoclimate research has concentrated on tropical oceans, while mid- and high-latitude marine regions have received less attention, despite their importance in the global climate system. At present, sclerochronological analyses of bivalve mollusks supply the bulk of annual- to subannual-resolution extratropical marine climate data, even though interpretation is complicated by a slowdown of growth with increasing shell age. Hence, in order to address the need for additional high-resolution proxy climate data from extratropical regions, we conducted the first year-long in situ field calibration of the coralline red alga Clathromorphum compactum in the Gulf of Maine, United States. Coralline red algae are widely distributed in coastal regions worldwide, and individual calcified plants can live continuously for several centuries in temperate and subarctic oceans. Stable oxygen isotopes extracted at subannual resolution from growth increments of monitored specimens of C. compactum relate well to in situ–measured sea-surface temperatures during the May to December calcification period, highlighting the suitability of coralline red algae as an extratropical climate archive. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between a 30 yr σ 18 O record of C. compactum and an instrumental sea-surface temperature record ( r = −0.58, p = 0.0008) and a proxy reconstruction derived from the bivalve Arctica islandica collected in the central Gulf of Maine ( r = 0.54, p = 0.002).

Proxy Climatic Data from Tree Rings at Lake Louise, Alberta : A Preliminary Report

Preliminary results are presented of studies using oxygen isotopes and tree-ring densitometry to derive proxy climatic data from Picea engelmannii and Abies Iasiocarpa in the Canadian Rockies. Significant correlations occur between mean annual temperatures and δ18O determinations from five year groups of tree rings from three trees. However, unexplained anomalies in these relationships indicate that ring-width effects may reduce this correlation in some cases and that further exploratory work is necessary. Indexed chronologies for the period 1705-1980 were developed for 15 tree-ring variables derived by X-ray densitometry from 16 Picea cores. Principal components analysis was used to identify three groups of highly inter-correlated variables related to ring width, earlywood density and latewood characteristics. Each group responds differently to climatic controls increasing the potential for development of proxy climatic data over ring-width measures alone. Transfer function development is incomplete but preliminary results for summer temperature (June and July, R2 = 0,46) and December-March precipitation (R2 = 0,40) are presented as examples. Using these equations preliminary reconstructions for the period 1710-1980 are presented.

High-resolution climate simulation of the last glacial maximum

The climate of the last glacial maximum (LGM) is simulated with a high-resolution atmospheric general circulation model, the NCAR CCM3 at spectral truncation of T170, corresponding to a grid cell size of roughly 75 km. The purpose of the study is to assess whether there are significant benefits from the higher resolution simulation compared to the lower resolution simulation associated with the role of topography. The LGM simulations were forced with modified CLIMAP sea ice distribution and sea surface temperatures (SST) reduced by 1°C, ice sheet topography, reduced CO2, and 21,000 BP orbital parameters. The high-resolution model captures modern climate reasonably well, in particular the distribution of heavy precipitation in the tropical Pacific. For the ice age case, surface temperature simulated by the high-resolution model agrees better with those of proxy estimates than does the low-resolution model. Despite the fact that tropical SSTs were only 2.1°C less than the control run, there are many lowland tropical land areas 4–6°C colder than present. Comparison of T170 model results with the best constrained proxy temperature estimates (noble gas concentrations in groundwater) now yield no significant differences between model and observations. There are also significant upland temperature changes in the best resolved tropical mountain belt (the Andes). We provisionally attribute this result in part as resulting from decreased lateral mixing between ocean and land in a model with more model grid cells. A longstanding model-data discrepancy therefore appears to be resolved without invoking any unusual model physics. The response of the Asian summer monsoon can also be more clearly linked to local geography in the high-resolution model than in the low-resolution model; this distinction should enable more confident validation of climate proxy data with the high-resolution model. Elsewhere, an inferred salinity increase in the subtropical North Atlantic may have significant implications for ocean circulation changes during the LGM. A large part of the Amazon and Congo Basins are simulated to be substantially drier in the ice age—consistent with many (but not all) paleo data. These results suggest that there are considerable benefits derived from high-resolution model regarding regional climate responses, and that observationalists can now compare their results with models that resolve geography at a resolution comparable to that which the proxy data represent.

Robustness of the Mann, Bradley, Hughes reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures: Examination of criticisms based on the nature and processing of proxy climate evidence

The Mann et al. (1998) Northern Hemisphere annual temperature reconstruction over 1400–1980 is examined in light of recent criticisms concerning the nature and processing of included climate proxy data. A systematic sequence of analyses is presented that examine issues concerning the proxy evidence, utilizing both indirect analyses via exclusion of proxies and processing steps subject to criticism, and direct analyses of principal component (PC) processing methods in question. Altogether new reconstructions over 1400–1980 are developed in both the indirect and direct analyses, which demonstrate that the Mann et al. reconstruction is robust against the proxy-based criticisms addressed. In particular, reconstructed hemispheric temperatures are demonstrated to be largely unaffected by the use or non-use of PCs to summarize proxy evidence from the data-rich North American region. When proxy PCs are employed, neither the time period used to “center” the data before PC calculation nor the way the PC calculations are performed significantly affects the results, as long as the full extent of the climate information actually in the proxy data is represented by the PC time series. Clear convergence of the resulting climate reconstructions is a strong indicator for achieving this criterion. Also, recent “corrections” to the Mann et al. reconstruction that suggest 15th century temperatures could have been as high as those of the late-20th century are shown to be without statistical and climatological merit. Our examination does suggest that a slight modification to the original Mann et al. reconstruction is justifiable for the first half of the 15th century (∼+0.05∘), which leaves entirely unaltered the primary conclusion of Mann et al. (as well as many other reconstructions) that both the 20th century upward trend and high late-20th century hemispheric surface temperatures are anomalous over at least the last 600 years. Our results are also used to evaluate the separate criticism of reduced amplitude in the Mann et al. reconstructions over significant portions of 1400–1900, in relation to some other climate reconstructions and model-based examinations. We find that, from the perspective of the proxy data themselves, such losses probably exist, but they may be smaller than those reported in other recent work.

Paleoenvironmental proxy records from Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia, and a synthesis of Holocene climate change in the Lake Baikal watershed

Here we discuss paleoenvironmental evolution in the Baikal region during the Holocene using new records of aquatic (diatom) and terrestrial vegetation changes from Hovsgol, Mongolia's largest and deepest lake. We reconcile previous contradictory Baikal timescales by constraining reservoir corrections of AMS dates on bulk sedimentary organic carbon. Synthesis of the Holocene records in the Baikal watershed reveals a northward progression in landscape/vegetation changes and an anti-phase behavior of diatom and biogenic silica proxies in neighboring rift lakes. In Lake Baikal, these proxies appear to be responsive to annual temperature increases after 6 ka, whereas in Lake Hovsgol they respond to higher precipitation/runoff from 11 to 7 ka. Unlike around Lake Baikal, warmer summers between 6 and 3.5 ka resulted in the decline, not expansion, of forest vegetation around Lake Hovsgol, apparently as a result of higher soil temperatures and lower moisture availability. The regional climatic proxy data are consistent with a series of 500-yr time slice Holocene GCM simulations for continental Eurasia. Our results allow reevaluation of the concepts of ‘the Holocene optimum’ and a ‘maximum of the Asian summer monsoon’, as applied to paleoclimate records from continental Asia.

Mind the gap: an absence of valley-fill deposits identifying the Holocene hypsithermal period of enhanced flow regime in southeastern Australia

The Holocene sedimentary record in southeastern Australia is present in a range of landscape settings, such as upland swamps (dells), internally drained lake basins, alluvial fans, and mid-catchment and lowland floodplains. An assessment of the best-constrained basal radiocarbon dates in valley-fill locations between 30 and 42°S and upstream of last-glacial eustatic influences yields an intriguing pattern. The record for fluvial sites with catchment areas > 30 km2 exhibits a distinct gap in the alluvial record between 8 and 4 ka BP (10—4.5 ka). In contrast, data for eleven upland-swamp sites with catchment areas < 50 km2 exhibit a broader spectrum of basal ages, albeit with some reduction of activity during the alluvial gap. We suggest that the period 8—4 ka BP in the sedimentary record at the fluvial sites reflects the early to mid-Holocene climatic optimum independently recognized in proxy climate data in the region. It was a period of enhanced water discharges, stable well-vegetated catchments and low sediment yields, and therefore greatly limited sediment sequestration, and it has been termed the Nambucca Phase. In upland swamps, however, threshold-driven processes produce an episodic landscape responses during much of the Holocene. Contrasting results in upland compared with middle and lower basin locations demonstrate the nonuniform landscape response to climatic changes during the Holocene in southeastern Australia.

Lake Van Drilling Project: A Long Continental Record in Eastern Turkey

No abstract available. doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.4.13.2007

A new European testate amoebae transfer function for palaeohydrological reconstruction on ombrotrophic peatlands

AbstractProxy climate data can be obtained from reconstructions of hydrological changes on ombrotrophic (rain‐fed) peatlands using biological indicators, such as testate amoebae. Reconstructions are based on transfer functions, relating modern assemblage composition to water table and moisture content, applied to fossil sequences. Existing transfer functions in Europe and elsewhere are limited geographically and there are often problems with missing or poor analogues. This paper presents a new palaeohydrological transfer function based on sampling raised mires from across Europe. Relationships between assemblages and hydrological variables are described using ordination analyses. Transfer functions are developed for depth to water table (n = 119) and moisture content (n = 132) with root mean squared errors (RMSEP) of 5.6 cm and 2.7% respectively. Both transfer functions have an r2 of 0.71, based on ‘leave one out’ cross‐validation. Comparisons with an existing transfer function for Britain show that the European transfer function performs well in inferring measured water tables in Britain but that the British data cannot be used to infer water tables for other European sites with confidence. Several of the key missing and poor analogue taxa problems encountered in previous transfer functions are solved. The new transfer function will be an important tool in developing peat‐based palaeoclimatic reconstructions for European sites. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A late-winter to early-spring temperature reconstruction for southeastern Norway from 1758 to 2006

AbstractSystematic temperature observations were not undertaken in Norway until the early 19th century, and even then only sporadically. Climate-proxy data may be used to reconstruct temperatures before this period, but until now there have not been any climate proxies available for late winter. This situation has recently changed, as a diary containing historical ice break-up data from a farm near lake Randsfjord in southeastern Norway has been discovered. These data, together with observations from lake Mjøsa in the same region, make it possible to reconstruct temperature back to 1758. The reconstructed series, combined with instrumental series from the area near the lake, were merged into one composite time series covering the period 1758–2006. The lowest temperatures are seen during the Dalton sunspot minimum in the early 19th century. The 20th century was 1.3˚C warmer than the 19th century, whereas the 19th century was 0.4˚C warmer than the last 43 years of the 18th century. During the period 1758–1850, the mean temperature was 1.4˚C lower than the mean value of the 20th century. The warmth observed in the 1990s and at the start of the 21st century is unprecedented during the whole series.

Peat multi‐proxy data from Männikjärve bog as indicators of late Holocene climate changes in Estonia

Sillasoo, Ü., Mauquoy, D., Blundell, A., Charman, D., Blaauw, M., Daniell, J. R. G., Toms, P., Newberry, J., Chambers, F M. & Karofeld, E. 2007 (January): Peat multi‐proxy data from Männikjärve bog as indicators of late Holocene climate changes in Estonia. Boreas, Vol. 36, pp. 20–37. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.As part of a wider project on European climate change over the past 4500 years, a 4.5‐m peat core was taken from a lawn microform on Männikjärve bog, Estonia. Several methods were used to yield proxy‐climate data: (i) a quadrat and leaf‐count method for plant macrofossil data, (ii) testate amoebae analysis, and (iii) colorimetric determination of peat humification. These data are provided with an exceptionally high resolution and precise chronology. Changes in bog surface wetness were inferred using Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and zonation of macrofossil data, particularly concerning the occurrence of Sphagnum balticum, and a transfer function for water‐table depth for testate amoebae data. Based on the results, periods of high bog surface wetness appear to have occurred at c. 3100,3010–2990,2300, 1750–1610, 1510, 1410, 1110, 540 and 310 cal. yr BP, during four longer periods between c. 3170 and 2850 cal. yr BP, 2450 and 2000 cal. yr BP, 1770 and 1530 cal. yr BP and in the period from 880 cal. yr BP until the present. In the period between 1770 and 1530 cal. yr BP, the extension or initiation of a hollow microtope occurred, which corresponds with other research results from Mannikjarve bog. This and other changes towards increasing bog surface wetness may be the responses to colder temperatures and the predominance of a more continental climate in the region, which favoured the development of bog micro‐depressions and a complex bog microtopography. Located in the border zone of oceanic and continental climatic sectors, in an area almost without land uplift, this study site may provide valuable information about changes in palaeohydrological and palaeoclimatological conditions in the northern parts of the eastern Baltic Sea region.

Globally synchronous climate change 2800 years ago: Proxy data from peat in South America

Initial findings from high-latitude ice-cores implied a relatively unvarying Holocene climate, in contrast to the major climate swings in the preceding late-Pleistocene. However, several climate archives from low latitudes imply a less than equable Holocene climate, as do recent studies on peat bogs in mainland north-west Europe, which indicate an abrupt climate cooling 2800 years ago, with parallels claimed in a range of climate archives elsewhere. A hypothesis that this claimed climate shift was global, and caused by reduced solar activity, has recently been disputed. Until now, no directly comparable data were available from the southern hemisphere to help resolve the dispute. Building on investigations of the vegetation history of an extensive mire in the Valle de Andorra, Tierra del Fuego, we took a further peat core from the bog to generate a high-resolution climate history through the use of determination of peat humification and quantitative leaf-count plant macrofossil analysis. Here, we present the new proxy-climate data from the bog in South America. The data are directly comparable with those in Europe, as they were produced using identical laboratory methods. They show that there was a major climate perturbation at the same time as in northwest European bogs. Its timing, nature and apparent global synchronicity lend support to the notion of solar forcing of past climate change, amplified by oceanic circulation. This finding of a similar response simultaneously in both hemispheres may help validate and improve global climate models. That reduced solar activity might cause a global climatic change suggests that attention be paid also to consideration of any global climate response to increases in solar activity. This has implications for interpreting the relative contribution of climate drivers of recent ‘global warming’.

Colluvium: Definition, differentiation, and possible suitability for reconstructing Holocene climate data

This study examines whether colluvial soils store climatic data and if these data can be used as proxies. Colluvial soils, as the correlated sediments of soil erosion, represent a widespread geoarchive. These soils store the morphology data of the eroded soils and contain clues as to the processes of the eroded soils’ formation as well as indications of the pedogenesis which took place after the deposition. All of these processes are closely related to climatic factors, especially rainfall. This study discusses the genesis of young soils in colluvial sediments and shows that typical soil features may be related to climatic factors. Furthermore, the study investigates the genesis of anthropogenic colluvial sediments, which must be seen as a syngenetical product of relief, field size, time of usage, pressure of population, farming technique, sediment erodibility, deposition area, and climatic factors. To this end, pedogenic features are separated from the sedimentological features. The results show that the reconstruction of all factors which control the genesis of the formation of a colluvium is still not yet possible. This is the necessary precondition for colluvial soils to yield proxy climate data, or for the data to be correlated with already existing Holocene climate archives. As the results of our discussion are ambiguous in their interpretation, we conclude that colluvial soils, which clearly include climatic information, cannot be used for the reconstruction of proxy climate data at present.

Historical climatology, 1950-2006

This article presents an overview of the development of historical climatology during the past 50 years and how this discipline has contributed to a better understanding of past, present and future climate change. It not only shows how historical climatology has evolved from mainly the social sciences as a special field of research and how it operates, but also how it has spread among institutes, universities and meteorological services throughout Europe.Historical climatology studies written sources providing indirect information on weather conditions, ranging from rainfall, temperatures and air pressure to extreme weather events. Discussing the wide range of written sources, it is explained what kind of a climate signal they provide and how historical climatology has used this indirect climate information or proxy data by developing a methodology of its own, which aims to transfer the proxy data into reconstructed temperatures, rainfall and air pressure time series. Then the contribution of historical climatology to a better understanding of climate variability and its impact of the recent millennium will be discussed by showing the results reached so far. In this respect the paper strongly focuses on temperature change which occurred during the Little Ice Age and in particular the Maunder Minimum and weather extremes such as storm surges and their impact. Finally, perspectives for further research are discussed by focusing on the Low Countries.

Indian Ocean zonal mode activity in a multicentury integration of a coupled AOGCM consistent with climate proxy data

The coupled atmosphere‐ocean system over the Indian Ocean (termed Indian Ocean Zonal Mode, IOZM) and its activity over the past 200 years is analyzed in a paleoclimate simulation from a coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation model (AOGCM). Validation shows that the AOGCM captures spatio‐temporal patterns of sea surface temperature anomalies as well as the seasonal phase‐locking feature of the IOZM. The period 1820–1880 exhibits a high frequency of climatically significant IOZM events, compared to a relatively low frequency in the 20th century. This shift in frequency provides a climate dynamics background for the interpretation of proxy data from East Africa, a region subjected to anomalously strong October–December precipitation during IOZM events. In the late 19th century, East African lakes had highstands (e.g., Lake Victoria) and its glaciers stable extents (e.g., Kilimanjaro), consistent with a wetter climate due to the higher frequency of IOZM events.

Ice core melt features in relation to Antarctic coastal climate

Measurement of light intensity transmission was carried out on an ice core S100 from coastal Dronning Maud Land (DML). Ice lenses were observed in digital pictures of the core and recorded as peaks in the light transmittance record. The frequency of ice layer occurrence was compared with climate proxy data (e.g. oxygen isotopes), annual accumulation rate derived from the same ice core, and available meteorological data from coastal stations in DML. The mean annual frequency of melting events remains constant for the last ∼150 years. However, fewer melting features are visible at depths corresponding to approximately 1890–1930 AD and the number of ice lenses increases again after 1930 AD. Most years during this period have negative summer temperature anomalies and positive annual accumulation anomalies. The increase in melting frequency around ∼1930 AD corresponds to the beginning of a decreasing trend in accumulation and an increasing trend in oxygen isotope record. On annual time scales, a relatively good match exists between ice layer frequencies and mean summer temperatures recorded at nearby meteorological stations (Novolazarevskaya, Sanae, Syowa and Halley) only for some years. There is a poor agreement between melt feature frequencies and oxygen isotope records on longer time scales. Melt layer frequency proved difficult to explain with standard climate data and ice core derived proxies. These results suggest a local character for the melt events and a strong influence of surface topography.

Reconstruction of Summer Temperature for a Canadian High Arctic Site from Retrospective Analysis of the Dwarf Shrub, Cassiope tetragona

We used retrospective analysis of the widespread evergreen dwarf-shrub, Cassiope tetragona, to reconstruct average summer air temperature for Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Canada. Retrospective analysis is a technique based on dendrochronological methods. In this study, chronologies are based on the morphological characteristics of the plant stems. Two growth and two reproduction chronologies, ranging from 80 to 118 years long, were developed from each of two populations at the High Arctic site. We used multiple regression models to develop a 100-year-long (1895–1994) reconstruction of July–September average air temperature that explained 45% of the climatic variance in the instrumental record. The reconstruction revealed an increase in summer temperature from ∼1905 to the early 1960s, a cooling trend from the mid-1960 to the 1970s, and an increase in temperature after 1980. These historical temperature patterns correspond well with those from other climate proxies from sites on Ellesmere and Devon Islands. As well, the similarity between our model and an arctic-wide proxy temperature time series suggests that the Cassiope-based reconstruction contains a large-scale temperature signal. There is great potential for the development of proxy climate data using Cassiope tetragona from sites throughout the Arctic.

A review of palaeoclimates and palaeoenvironments in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean from 25,000 to 5000 years BP: setting the environmental background for the evolution of human civilisation

The southern Levant has a long history of human habitation and it has been previously suggested that climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene–Holocene stimulated changes in human behaviour and society. In order to evaluate such linkages, it is necessary to have a detailed understanding of the climate record. We have conducted an extensive and up-to-date review of terrestrial and marine climatic conditions in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean during the last 25,000 years. We firstly present data from general circulation models (GCMs) simulating the climate for the last glacial maximum (LGM), and evaluate the output of the model by reference to geological climate proxy data. We consider the types of climate data available from different environments and proxies and then present the spatial climatic “picture” for key climatic events. This exercise suggests that the major Northern Hemisphere climatic fluctuations of the last 25,000 years are recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean and Levantine region. However, this review also highlights problems and inadequacies with the existing data.

Centennial to millennial changes in maar-lake deposition during the last 45,000 years in tropical Southern Africa (Lake Masoko, Tanzania)

The Masoko maar (southern Tanzania) provides one of the most continuous Late Quaternary lacustrine sedimentary records from Africa. A detailed chronostratigraphic framework coupled with sedimentological and magnetic measurements allows us to construct a 30-year resolution continuous sedimentary sequence covering the last 45,000 years and to address local depositional environment and climate variability in the tropical Southern Africa. Based on present-day observations and measurements, our results indicate that the low-field magnetic susceptibility of the sediment is highly controlled by climate-driven processes (wind-stress and/or lake-level amplitude changes) acting on the titanomagnetite-rich shoreline reservoir. The tephra- and turbidite-free magnetic susceptibility record is strongly modulated by a persistent multi-decadal to centennial variability (∼80 to 200 years), probably linked to the Gleissberg and Suess cycles of solar activity. At lower frequency, the variability of deposition is controlled by the precessional cycle and its harmonics, suggesting a dominant multi-millennial forcing of low-latitude insolation on climatic changes in tropical Southern Africa. Inferred wetter conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas at Masoko (9°S) indicate southward shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone associated with the North Atlantic glacial dynamics, and/or contrasted hydrological changes in the Rungwe highlands compared to the neighbouring areas. Finally, former regional transfer function between diatom assemblages and water chemistry suggested drier conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum at Lake Masoko [Barker, P., Williamson, D., Gasse, F., Gibert, E., 2003. Climatic and volcanic forcing revealed in a 50,000-year diatom record from Lake Massoko, Tanzania. Quaternary Research 60, 368–376]. In this context, further climate-proxy data (such as pollen) and hydrobiological studies in small, deep lakes are needed to support our alternative interpretation of the Masoko record.

Detection of the recent 2000a climatic extreme anomalies based on a new kind of approach-the high-order moment method

Based on the normalized high-resolution climatic proxy data, high-order moment method is used to detect the climate extreme anomalies in recent 2000 years in this paper. Combining with filtering method to extract the dominant components at physical backgrounds from the normalized data, we analyzed the information and examined the contributions of each component of the climate extreme events. The results show that: 1) On the timescale of more than 100 years, climatic oscillation with the period of about 1000 years may exits; besides, the 20th century witnessed the most active climate extreme anomalous phenomenon in recent 2000 years, so it may correspond to an active period of climate extreme anomaly phenomenon. 2) On 20—60year timescale, climate extreme anomaly phenomenon in the period of A.D. 300—1100a is relatively distinct and that in time span of A.D.1100—1980a is comparatively mitigative. Possibly, this level makes no considerable contribution to the climatic anomaly of 20th century. This level and the century scale both reflect that for climatic change in recent 2000 years, the year around A.D. 1100a maybe the key period of climate transition. 3) On the interannual timescale (less than 20years), the years of occurrence of climatic extreme anomalies reflected in Beijing Shihua cave stalagmite proxy records has good correspondence with that of the E1 Ni?o or La Ni?a events (in this paper, only the period of 1960—1980a was considered). 4) high-order moment method has a good prospect in detecting the climatic extreme events.

Interannual Variability in Millennial Climate Proxy Data

Annual records of ice core δD values from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 core define a temporally ordered normal distribution over an interval of 686 yr (AD 1300–1985) about a mean value of $$-270.3\mbox{\textperthousand} \pm 8.41\mbox{\textperthousand} $$ (standard mean ocean water) and suggest that a significant component of year‐to‐year variation may exist as an unrelated series of ice compositions comprising Gaussian white noise. Importantly, while rates of interannual change in composition also define a symmetric modal distribution (as would be expected from random variation), year‐to‐year differences display a standard deviation (9.47‰) that is significantly smaller than that expected for a distribution of temporally independent compositions (11.90‰). This reduction in variance in year‐to‐year δD changes reflects a partial correlation between successive annual compositions. Several numerical aspects of annual isotope values suggest that ∼33% of compositional variation is controlled by system memory and ∼67% reflects the imposition of Gaussian noise on the annual isotope composition. Likewise, other proxy millennial records of paleoclimate variation embodied as year‐to‐year differences in δ18O of coral aragonite and widths of annually accreted tree rings are found to exhibit similar degrees of interannual memory. Such dependence on the compositions of the previous year could record multiyear changes in local weather patterns but could also reflect more specific processes such as interlayer transport by vapor diffusion in polar ice or the variable influences of vital inertia in different biologic systems.