Evidence for cooler European summers during periods of changing meltwater flux to the North Atlantic.

ABSTRACT: We analyzed fossil chironomids (nonbiting midges) and pollen in two lake-sediment records to reconstruct and quantify Holocene summer-temperature fluctuations in the European Alps. Chironomid and pollen records indicate five centennial-scale cooling episodes during the early- and mid-Holocene. The strongest temperature declines of approximately 1 degrees C are inferred at approximately 10,700-10,500 and 8,200-7,600 calibrated 14C years B.P., whereas other temperature fluctuations are of smaller amplitude. Two forcing mechanisms have been presented recently to explain centennial-scale climate variability in Europe during the early- and mid-Holocene, both involving changes in Atlantic thermohaline circulation. In the first mechanism, changes in meltwater flux from the North American continen

SUBMITTER: Heiri O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC524458 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature