Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:46:31.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thermal gradients in Europe during the last glacial-interglacial transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

H. Renssen ,
R.F.B. Isarin  and
J. Vandenberghe
H. Renssen*
Affiliation:
Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université catholique de Louvain, 2 Chemin du Cyclotron, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Netherlands Centre for Geo-ecological Research (ICG), Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; e-mail:renh@geo.vu.nl
R.F.B. Isarin
Affiliation:
Archaeological Consultancy RAAP, Zeeburgerdijk 54, NL-1094 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands; e-mail:r.isarin@raap.nl
J. Vandenberghe
Affiliation:
Netherlands Centre for Geo-ecological Research (ICG), Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; e-mail:renh@geo.vu.nl
*
*corresponding author

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Temperature profiles along east-west and north-south transects in Europe are presented for four time-slices covering the two most prominent warming phases of the last glacial-interglacial transition: Late Pleniglacial (LP), early Bøiling (BL), Younger Dryas (YD), and Preboreal (PB). These temperature profiles are based on two methods: 1) simulation experiments with an atmospheric general circulation model, 2) reconstructions based on terrestrial geological and palaeoecological data. The profiles have The Netherlands as intersection point (52°N, 5°E). During the cold phases (LP and YD), the simulated and reconstructed temperature gradients are very steep in a north-south direction, ranging in January from -25°C in northern Europe (56–60°N) to at least 5°C near the Mediterranean, and in July from 0°C to 20°C. The east-west profiles along 52°N for LP and YD show that temperatures in Eastern Europe were similar to the Atlantic coast (i.e. between ‒15°C and ‒25°C). During the warm phases (BL and PB), the temperature regimes resembled present-day thermal conditions, although steeper north-south and east-west temperature gradients were present during BL and PB. The model simulations suggest that continental Europe was a few degrees warmer during PB and BL than today in July under influence of the relatively high summer insolation. Considering the change of climate through time, the profiles show that in The Netherlands the warming during the two transitions (LP-BL, YD-PB) was relatively small compared to regions to the West and North, whereas in Eastern and Southern Europe the temperature increase is even smaller. This reflects the dominant influence of latitudinal movements of the North Atlantic polar front and associated sea-ice margin.

Keywords

climate changeclimate modellingclimate reconstructionEuropeLate-Glacialpalaeotemperatures
Type
Special section: PAGES Symposium, Amsterdam, 3 November 2000
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 113 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2002

References

Adams, J.M., 1997. Europe during the last 150,000 years. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA, at www.esd.ornl.gov Google Scholar
Berger, A.L., 1978. Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the earth’s orbital elements. Quaternary Research 9: 139–167.Google Scholar
Claussen, M., Lohmann, U., Roeckner, E. & Schulzweida, U., 1994. A global data set of land-surface parameters. Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie report no. 135 (Hamburg): 30 pp.Google Scholar
CLIMAP members, 1981. Seasonal reconstructions of the earth’s surface at the Last Glacial Maximum. Geological Society of America Map and Chart Series MC-36.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R., Lemdahl, G., Lowe, J.J. & Walkling, A., 1998. Temperature gradients in Northern Europe during the Last Glacial-Holocene Transition (14–9 14C ka BP) interpreted from Coleopteran Assemblages. Journal of Quaternary Science 13: 419–433.Google Scholar
DKRZ, 1994. The ECHAM 3 Atmospheric General Circulation Model. Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum technical report no. 6 (Hamburg): 184 pp.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., 1989. A 17 000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342: 637–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grootes, P.M., Stuiver, M., White, J.W., Johnsen, S. & Jouzel, J., 1993. Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores. Nature 366: 552–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huijzer, A.S. & Isarin, R.F.B., 1997. The reconstruction of past climates using multi-proxy evidence; an example of the Weichselian Pleniglacial in northwestern and central Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews 16: 513–533.Google Scholar
Huijzer, B. & Vandenberghe, J., 1998. Climatic reconstruction of the Weichselian Pleniglacial in northwestern and central Europe. Journal of Quaternary Science 13: 391–417.Google Scholar
Isarin, R.F.B., 1997. Permafrost distribution and temperatures in Europe during the Younger Dryas. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 8: 313–333.Google Scholar
Isarin, R.F.B. & Bohncke, S.J.P., 1999. Mean July temperatures during the Younger Dryas in northwestern and central Europe as inferred from climate indicator species. Quaternary Research 51: 158–173.Google Scholar
Isarin, R.F.B., Renssen, H., & Vandenberghe, J., 1998. The impact of the North Atlantic Ocean on the Younger Dryas climate in North-Western and Central Europe. Journal of Quaternary Science 13:447–453.Google Scholar
Koҫ, N., Jansen, E. & Haflidason, H., 1993. Paleoceanographic reconstructions of surface ocean conditions in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian Seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms. Quaternary Science Reviews 12: 115–140.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R., 1994. Ice age paleotopography. Science 265: 195–201.Google Scholar
Raynaud, D., Jouzel, J., Barnola, J.M., Chappellaz, J., Delmas, R.J., & Lorius, C. 1993. The ice record of greenhouse gases. Science 259:926–933.Google Scholar
Renssen, H. & Isarin, R.F.B., 1998. Surface temperature in NW Europe during the Younger Dryas: AGCM simulation compared with temperature reconstructions. Climate Dynamics 14: 33–44.Google Scholar
Renssen, H. & Isarin, R.F.B., 2001. The two major warming phases of the last déglaciation at ∼14.7 and <11.5 kyr cal BP in Europe: climate reconstructions and AGCM experiments. Global and Planetary Change 30: 117–154.Google Scholar
Renssen, H. & Lautenschlager, M., 2000. The effect of vegetation in a climate model simulation on the Younger Dryas. Global and Planetary Change 26: 423–443.Google Scholar
Renssen, H., Isarin, R.F.B., Vandenberghe, J., Lautenschlager, M. & Schlese, U., 2000. Permafrost as a critical factor in palaeoclimate modelling: the Younger Dryas case in Europe. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 176: 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roeckner, E., Arpe, K., Bengtsson, L., Christoph, M., Claussen, M., Dümenil, L., Esch, M., Giorgetta, M., Schlese, U. & Schulzweida, U., 1996. The atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM-4: model description and simulation of presentday climate. Max-Planck-Institute für Meteorologie report no. 218 (Hamburg): 90 pp.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M., Jansen, E., Weinelt, M., Arnold, M., Duplessy, J.C., Erlenkeuser, H., Flatøy, A., Johannessen, G., Johannessen, T., Jung, S., Koç, N., Labeyrie, L., Maslin, M., Pflaumann, U. & Schulz, H., 1995. Variations in Atlantic surface ocean paleo-ceanography, 50°-80°N: A time-slice record of the last 30,000 years. Paleoceanography 10: 1063–1094.Google Scholar
Schiller, A., Mikolajewicz, U. & Voss, R., 1997. The stability of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation in a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model. Climate Dynamics 13: 325–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, K.C., Lamorey, G.W., Doyle, G.A., Alley, R.B., Grootes, P.M., Mayewski, P.A., White, J.W.C. & Barlow, L.K., 1993. The ‘flickering switch’ of late Pleistocene climate change. Nature: 361, 432–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandenberghe, J., Coope, G.R. & Kasse, C. 1998. Quantitative reconstructions of palaeoclimates during the last interglacialglacial in western and central Europe: an introduction. Journal of Quaternary Science 13: 361–366.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, J., Isarin, R.F.B. & Renssen, H., 2001. Rapid climatic warming: palaeodata analysis and modeling. Global and Planetary Change 30: 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Grafenstein, U., Erlenkeuser, H., Brauer, A., Jouzel, J. & Johnsen, S., 1999. A Mid-European decadal isotope-climate record from 15,000 to 5000 years B.P. Science 284: 1654–1657.Google Scholar
Wallén, C.C. (ed.), 1970. Climates of Northern and Western Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam: 252 pp.Google Scholar
Wallén, C.C. (ed.), 1977. Climates of Central and Southern Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam: 248 pp.Google Scholar
Zagwijn, W.H., 1994. Reconstruction of climate change during the Holocene in western and central Europe based on pollen records of indicator species. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 3: 65–88.Google Scholar