Wiman, CharlotteHamilton, BrynnyddDee, Sylvia G.Muñoz, Samuel E.2021-03-092021-03-092021Wiman, Charlotte, Hamilton, Brynnydd, Dee, Sylvia G., et al.. "Reduced Lower Mississippi River Discharge During the Medieval Era." <i>Geophysical Research Letters,</i> 48, no. 3 (2021) Wiley: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091182.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/110154Changes in climate are expected to influence discharge of the lower Mississippi River, but projections disagree on whether discharge will increase or decrease over the coming century. Using a reconstructed median peak annual flow for the past 1,500 years based on geomorphic scaling laws, we show that discharge on the lower Mississippi River decreased during the Medieval era (c. 1000–1200 CE)—a period of regionally warm and dry conditions that serves as a partial analog for projected warming. These changes in discharge inferred from channel morphology track discharge simulated in the Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble. Simulations show that decreased Medieval era discharge is driven primarily by regionally enhanced evapotranspiration. Our findings are consistent with 21st century projections of decreased discharge on the lower Mississippi River under moderate greenhouse forcing scenarios, and demonstrate consistency between reconstructed and simulated discharge over the last millennium.engThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Journal article2020GL091182https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091182