NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Canadian Arctic and Greenland 15,000 Year July Temperature Reconstructions

Holocene temperature variations were reconstructed for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and coastal Greenland using pollen data from 39 radiocarbon-dated lake sediment cores. Using the modern analog technique, mean July temperatures were estimated for the past 10.2 ka, and regional averages computed. In the western and central Arctic, maximum temperatures were found before 7 ka. In the eastern Canadian Arctic, north Greenland and east Greenland, maximum temperatures were found between 8 and 5 ka, and in southern Greenland after 4 ka. When combined with previously published reconstructions from boreal Canada and eastern Beringia, the Holocene climate history of this region can be divided into three parts with major transitions at 8.0 and 5.2 ka, however, the different regions had different histories.