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Temperature patterns over the past eight centuries in Northern Fennoscandia inferred from sedimentary diatoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jan Weckström ,
Atte Korhola ,
Panu Erästö  and
Lasse Holmström
Jan Weckström*
Affiliation:
Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU), Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 65, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
Atte Korhola
Affiliation:
Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU), Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 65, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
Panu Erästö
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, P.O. Box 68, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
Lasse Holmström
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical Sciences, P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90014, University of Oulu, Finland
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +358 9 191 57788. E-mail address:jan.weckstrom@helsinki.fi (J. Weckström).
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Abstract

Establishing natural climate variability becomes particularly important in remote polar regions, especially when considering questions regarding higher than average warming. We present a high-resolution record of temperature variability for the past 800 yr based on sedimentary diatoms from a treeline lake in Finnish Lapland. The BSiZer multiscale smoothing technique is applied to the data to identify significant features in the record at different temporal levels. The overall reconstruction shows relatively large multi-centennial temperature variability with a total range of about 0.6–0.8°C. At millennial scales, the temperatures exhibit a statistically significant long-term cooling trend prior to industrialization (ΔT = −0.03°C/century). At the centennial timescale, three warm time intervals were identified around AD 1200–1300 (terminal phase of the Medieval Warm Period, MWP), 1380–1550 and from 1920 until the present. Pronounced coolness occurred between AD 1600 and 1920, indicative of the Little Ice Age (LIA). At the decadal level, certain shorter-term climate excursions were revealed. The warmest ∼10–30 yr, non-overlapping periods occurred in AD 1220–1250, 1470–1500 and 1970–2000, respectively. The classic events of MWP and LIA are evident in our record, as is also the 20th century warming.

Keywords

DiatomsPaleoclimatologyClimate variabilityTemperatureBSiZerNorthern FennoscandiaMedieval Warm PeriodLittle Ice Age
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , July 2006 , pp. 78 - 86
Copyright
University of Washington

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