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A review of climate reconstructions from terrestrial climate archives covering the first millennium AD in northwestern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2018

Dana F.C. Riechelmann  and
Marjolein T.I.J. Gouw-Bouman
Dana F.C. Riechelmann*
Affiliation:
Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Institute of Geosciences, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, D-55128 Mainz, Germany Utrecht University, Department of Physical Geography, Princetonlaan 8A, NL-3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marjolein T.I.J. Gouw-Bouman
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Department of Physical Geography, Princetonlaan 8A, NL-3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author at: Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Institute of Geosciences, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, D-55128 Mainz, Germany. E-mail address: riechelm@uni-mainz.de (Dana F.C. Riechelmann).
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Abstract

Large changes in landscape, vegetation, and culture in northwestern (NW) Europe during the first millennium AD seem concurrent with climatic shifts. Understanding of this relation requires high-resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions. Therefore, we compiled available climate reconstructions from sites across NW Europe (extent research area: 10°W–20°E, 45°–60°N) through review of literature and the underlying data, to identify supraregional climatic changes in this region. All reconstructions cover the period from AD 1 to 1000 and have a temporal resolution of ≤50 yr. This resulted in 22 climate reconstructions/proxy records based on different palaeoclimate archives: chironomids (1), pollen (6), Sphagnum mosses (1), stalagmites (8), testate amoebae (4), and tree rings (2). Comparing all temperature reconstructions, we conclude that summer temperatures between AD 1 and 250 were relatively high, and the period between AD 250 and 700 was characterised by colder summer conditions. The period from AD 700 to 1000 was again characterised by warmer summers. These temperature shifts occurred in the whole of NW Europe. In contrast, the compilation of precipitation reconstructions does not show a common pattern across NW Europe either as a result of a heterogeneous precipitation pattern or the lack of suitable and consistent precipitation proxies.

Keywords

PalaeoclimatologyDark Ages Cold PeriodRoman Warm PeriodSeasonalityTemperature reconstructionsPrecipitation reconstructions
Type
Review Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 111 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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