Shipwreck rates reveal Caribbean tropical cyclone response to past radiative forcing

We have a new paper out in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) today:
In this study, we used a combination of tree-ring data and historical shipwreck data to show that Tropical Cyclone activity in the Caribbean was distinctly suppressed during the Maunder Minimum (1645–1715 CE), a period when solar irradiance was severely reduced. This solar fingerprint on decadal-scale Caribbean TC variability implies modulation by a combination of basin-wide climatic phenomena. Our findings highlight the need to enhance our understanding of the response of atmospheric circulation patterns to radiative forcing and climate change to improve the skill of future TC projections.
You can find the paper here: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/03/02/1519566113
and a Washington Post piece on it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/07/what-these-ancient-shipwrecks-could-be-telling-us-about-climate-change/