Storminess proxies from Cors Fochno, Wales

Future anthropogenic climate forcing is forecast to increase storm intensity and frequency over Northern Europe, however understanding the significance of such a change is difficult because the natural variability of storminess beyond the range of instrumental data is poorly known. Here we present a decadal-resolution record of storminess covering the Late Holocene, based on analysis of a core taken from the peat bog of Cors Fochno in mid-Wales, UK, in 2010. Storminess is indicated by variations in the minerogenic content (aeolian sand deposits) as well as bromine deposited from sea spray. A 4 m long peat core was sampled using a Russian corer from the centre of the bog (52°30'9''N; 4°0'39''W). Chronological constraints were provided by AMS radiocarbon dating of 5 samples along the core, which showed that the core spanned a period from 4460-120 cal yrs BP.