The Pacific Decadal Oscillation modulates global temperature trends since the mid-18th century

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) plays a crucial role in global decadal climate variability. However, large discrepancies persist in the determination of pre-industrial PDO variability derived from terrestrial proxy records. Here we reconstruct the PDO variability for the period 1746–2003 using a network of annually resolved marine proxy records from the extratropical North Pacific. Our PDO reconstruction (PDOrec) provides evidences for the persistent decadal variability and tropical-extratropical interactions over the North Pacific. Superposed epoch analysis does not detect a significant response of PDOrec to major volcanic eruptions, underscoring the dominant role of internal variability. Decadal changes in global temperature trends were found to correspond to PDOrec for the period 1746–2003, indicating that the decadal changes in global temperature trends do not arise solely from external forcing, and may be instead modulated by internal variability.