Abstract

The origin of the temperature divergence between Holocene proxy reconstructions and model simulations remains controversial, but it possibly results from potential biases in the seasonality of reconstructions or in the climate sensitivity of models. Here we present an extensive dataset of Holocene seasonal temperatures reconstructed using 1310 pollen records covering the Northern Hemisphere landmass. Our results indicate that both summer and winter temperatures warmed from the early to mid-Holocene (~11–7 ka BP) and then cooled thereafter, but with significant spatial variability. Strong early Holocene warming trend occurred mainly in Europe, eastern North America and northern Asia, which can be generally captured by model simulations and is likely associated with the retreat of continental ice sheets. The subsequent cooling trend is pervasively recorded except for northern Asia and southeastern North America, which may reflect the cross-seasonal impact of the decreasing summer insolation through climatic feedbacks, but the cooling in winter season is not well reproduced by climate models. Our results challenge the proposal that seasonal biases in proxies are the main origin of model–data discrepancies and highlight the critical impact of insolation and associated feedbacks on temperature changes, which warrant closer attention in future climate modelling.

The study reconstructed Holocene seasonal temperatures using 1,310 pollen records covering the Northern Hemisphere landmass, and show that both summer and winter temperatures peaked at ~7 ka BP, but with significant spatial variability.

Details

Title
Holocene seasonal temperature evolution and spatial variability over the Northern Hemisphere landmass
Author
Zhang, Wenchao 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wu, Haibin 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cheng, Jun 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Geng, Junyan 4 ; Li, Qin 5 ; Sun, Yong 6 ; Yu, Yanyan 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lu, Huayu 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Guo, Zhengtang 2 

 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); China University of Geosciences (Beijing), School of Earth Sciences and Resources, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.162107.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2156 409X) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.410726.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1797 8419) 
 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing, China (GRID:grid.260478.f) (ISNI:0000 0000 9249 2313) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.410726.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1797 8419) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Liaoning Normal University, School of Geography, Dalian, China (GRID:grid.440818.1) (ISNI:0000 0000 8664 1765) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Nanjing University, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing, China (GRID:grid.41156.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2314 964X) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2712352987
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.