Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions 87 These were Pathologisches Institut der Universität These were im hoheren Lebensalter oder aber auch durch operativen oder traumatischen StreB und bei vie len anderen Storungen im Wasser und Elektro­ lythaushalt The question of past natural rates and ranges of climate conditions over South America is therefore of special relevance in this context since today millions of people live under climates where any changes in monsoon rainfall can lead to catastrophic consequences the role of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds on global climate has been highly investigated with both paleodata and coupled climate models