El Nino/La Nina and Sahel precipitation during the middle Holocene

Simulations with a synchronously coupled atmosphere-land-ocean-sea ice model indicate El Nino/La Nina-like events in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean during the middle Holocene (6 ka) with similar intensities and frequencies as at present (0 ka). July-August-September Sahel precipitation shifts northward as expected from proxy data. For present-day, interannual-decadal variability of western Sahel precipitation is correlated with both Pacific El Nino/La Nina sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and the Atlantic dipole. Teleconnections at 6 ka between Sahel precipitation and El Nino/La Nina SST anomalies are absent with tropical Atlantic SSTs asserting a dominant influence. These results illustrate potential problems with using present-day teleconnection patterns in interpreting past climate variability from proxy data.