Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 1 1 2005 10.5194/cpd-1-17-2005 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/1/17/2005/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/1/17/2005/cpd-1-17-2005.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/1/17/2005/cpd-1-17-2005.pdf 17 56 2005-07-25 Where can the Arctic oscillation be reconstructed? Towards a reconstruction of climate modes based on stable teleconnections G. Lohmann N. Rimbu M. Dima Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany Proxy data can bring observed climate variability of the last 100 years into a long-term context. We identify regions of the Northern Hemisphere where the teleconnection patterns of the Arctic Oscillation are stationary. Our method provides a systematic way to examine optimal sites for the reconstruction of climate modes based on paleoclimatic archives that sensitively record temperature and precipitation variations. We identify the regions for boreal winter and spring that can be used to reconstruct the Arctic Oscillation index in the pre-instrumental period. Finally, this technique is applied to high resolution coral, tree ring, ice core and mollusk shell data to understand proxy-climate teleconnections and their use for climate reconstructions.