The climate of Europe during the Holocene: a gridded pollen-based reconstruction and its multi-proxy evaluation

Mauri, Achille; Davis, Basil; Collins, Pamela; Kaplan, Jed O.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.01.013

Cited by 238 publications

(309 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…The summer thermal maximum inferred from the Middle Atlas pollen records is coherent with insolation forcing and model predictions (Renssen et al, 2009). In contrast, it does not support the results of large-scale pollen-based climate reconstructions (Davis et al, 2003;Mauri et al, 2015) which produce cool Early Holocene temperatures for the SW European/W Mediterranean sector. The challenge for pollen-based reconstructions in the Mediterranean climate zone is the interaction of temperature and precipitation changes in determining bioclimatic moisture availability for vegetation development, and hence the truly independent reconstruction of either temperature or precipitation.…”

Section: Impacts Of Long-term and Millennial-scale Summer Temperaturecontrasting

confidence: 83%

“…Specifically, we seek to address several key questions about the environmental drivers of vegetation change in the Middle Atlas. First, regarding vegetation-climate relationships, is there evidence for an Early Holocene summer temperature maximum consistent with insolation forcing and climate models (Renssen et al, 2009), or a cool Early Holocene, as suggested by large-scale pollenbased reconstructions for the Western Mediterranean (Davis et al, 2003;Mauri et al, 2015)? Is there evidence for vegetation response to millennial-scale variability in Holocene climate, as previously reported for the Western and Central Mediterranean (Fletcher et al, 2013;Jaouadi et al, 2016) but for which evidence is generally lacking in the Middle Atlas (cf.…”

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 96%

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Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

et al. 2017

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Section: Impacts Of Long-term and Millennial-scale Summer Temperaturecontrasting

confidence: 83%

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 96%

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

et al. 2017

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“…This can be attributed to the difficulty of reconstructing winter precipitation from areas where much of the precipitation falls as snow, such as northern Europe. However, comparisons with other reconstructions of winter precipitation based on other proxies from sites in northern Norway and Germany over the Holocene show good agreement (Mauri et al, 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 74%

The influence of atmospheric circulation on the mid-Holocene climate of Europe: a data–model comparison

Mauri

Davis

Collins³

et al. 2014

Clim. Past

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112

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Abstract. The atmospheric circulation is a key area of uncertainty in climate model simulations of future climate change, especially in mid-latitude regions such as Europe where atmospheric dynamics have a significant role in climate variability. It has been proposed that the mid-Holocene was characterized in Europe by a stronger westerly circulation in winter comparable with a more positive AO/NAO, and a weaker westerly circulation in summer caused by anticyclonic blocking near Scandinavia. Model simulations indicate at best only a weakly positive AO/NAO, whilst changes in summer atmospheric circulation have not been widely investigated. Here we use a new pollen-based reconstruction of European mid-Holocene climate to investigate the role of atmospheric circulation in explaining the spatial pattern of seasonal temperature and precipitation anomalies. We find that the footprint of the anomalies is entirely consistent with those from modern analogue atmospheric circulation patterns associated with a strong westerly circulation in winter (positive AO/NAO) and a weak westerly circulation in summer associated with anti-cyclonic blocking (positive SCAND). We find little agreement between the reconstructed anomalies and those from 14 GCMs that performed mid-Holocene experiments as part of the PMIP3/CMIP5 project, which show a much greater sensitivity to top-of-the-atmosphere changes in solar insolation. Our findings are consistent with datamodel comparisons on contemporary timescales that indicate that models underestimate the role of atmospheric circulation in recent climate change, whilst also highlighting the importance of atmospheric dynamics in explaining interglacial warming.

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“…It must be pointed out that this research area overall presents a relatively low density of both paleoenvironmental and archaeological data, especially when compared to neighbouring regions (cf. maps in Feurdean et al, 2014, Mauri et al, 2015. For instance, terrestrial palynological archives covering either the Pleistocene / Holocene transition or the early Holocene are scarce, and include Lake Bled in Slovenia (Andrič et al, 2009), Lake Vrana on the island of Cres, Croatia (Schmidt et al, 2000) and Lakes Maliq, Prespa and Ohrid at the Albanian-Macedonian-Greek border (e.g.…”

Section: Paleoenvironmental and Archaeological Data: Materials And Mementioning

confidence: 99%

A long hard road… Reviewing the evidence for environmental change and population history in the eastern Adriatic and western Balkans during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

Birch

Linden

2018

Quaternary International

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The eastern Adriatic and western Balkans are key areas for assessing the environmental and population history of Europe during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. It has been argued that the Balkan region served as a Late Glacial refugium for humans, animals, and plants, much like Iberia and the Italian Peninsula and in contrast to the harsh conditions of Eastern and Central Europe. As post-glacial amelioration occurred and sea level rose, these regions to the north and west of the Balkan Mountains became forested and were populated by Mesolithic forager-fishers. Meanwhile, to the south, the domestication of plants and animals in the Near East began to cause large-scale environmental as well as lifestyle changes. Even as the Balkan Peninsula was a likely crossroads on the route for the spread of agriculture and herding from Southwest Asia into Europe, issues such as pre-Neolithic settlement, the discussion of human-environment interactions, and the role of climate events such as the 11.4, 9.3, and 8.2 ka cal BP in this critical landscape are often overlooked. Efforts to counter this challenge have been hampered by an apparent lack of data, so that the region hardly occurs in distribution maps. In part this is due to patchy research and a complicated political history, which have contributed to a fragmented archaeological and paleoecological record. Yet, as we show here, there is in fact plenty of evidence available for review. We present a survey of different proxies for environment and settlement throughout the Late Pleistocene and into the Early Holocene, combining radiocarbon data with zooarchaeological, lithic, and palynological records. By mapping this evidence, we are able to discuss the impact of climate change during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and consider the role of environment and landscape on human population distribution at this crossroads in place and time.

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The climate of Europe during the Holocene: a gridded pollen-based reconstruction and its multi-proxy evaluation

Cited by 238 publications

References 108 publications

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

The influence of atmospheric circulation on the mid-Holocene climate of Europe: a data–model comparison

A long hard road… Reviewing the evidence for environmental change and population history in the eastern Adriatic and western Balkans during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

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