Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T00:49:40.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late-Quaternary summer temperature changes in the northern-European tree-line region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Heikki Seppä ,
Glen M. MacDonald ,
H. John B. Birks ,
Bruce R. Gervais  and
Jeffrey A. Snyder
Heikki Seppä*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, P.O. Box 64, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
Glen M. MacDonald
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524, USA
H. John B. Birks
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 55, N-5007 Bergen, Norway Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Bruce R. Gervais
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, California State University, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95670-6003, USA
Jeffrey A. Snyder
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Bowling Green State University, 190 Overman Hall, Bowling Green Ohio, 43403, Ohio, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +358 9 19150826.E-mail address:[email protected] (H. Seppä).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present two new quantitative July mean temperature (Tjul) reconstructions from the Arctic tree-line region in the Kola Peninsula in north-western Russia. The reconstructions are based on fossil pollen records and cover the Younger Dryas stadial and the Holocene. The inferred temperatures are less reliable during the Younger Dryas because of the poorer fit between the fossil pollen samples and the modern samples in the calibration set than during the Holocene. The results suggest that the Younger Dryas Tjulin the region was 8.0–10.0°C, being 2.0–3.0°C lower than at present. The Holocene summer temperature maximum dates to 7500–6500 cal yr BP, with Tjulabout 1.5°C higher than at present. These new records contribute to our understanding of summer temperature changes along the northern-European tree-line region. The Holocene trends are consistent in most of the independent records from the Fennoscandian–Kola tree-line region, with the beginning of the Holocene thermal maximum no sooner than at about 8000 cal yr BP. In the few existing temperature-related records farther east in the Russian Arctic tree line, the period of highest summer temperature begins already at about 10,000 cal yr BP. This difference may reflect the strong influence of the Atlantic coastal current on the atmospheric circulation pattern and the thermal behaviour of the tree-line region on the Atlantic seaboard, and the more direct influence of the summer solar insolation on summer temperature in the region east of the Kola Peninsula.

Keywords

PollenKola PeninsulaTransfer functionYounger DryasHolocene
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , May 2008 , pp. 404 - 412
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreev, A., Tarasov, P., Schwamborn, G., Ilyashuk, B., Ilyashuk, E., Bobrov, A., Klimanov, V., Racholdand, V., Hubberten, H.-W., (2004). Holocene paleoenvironmental records from Nikolay Lake, Lena River Delta, Arctic Russia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 209, 197–204.Google Scholar
Aschberger, C., Box, J.E., Chen, D., (2007). Nordic region. Arguez, A., State of the Climate in 2006. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society vol. 88, 104–106.Google Scholar
Bakke, J., Dahl, S.O., Paasche, Ø., Løvlie, R., Nesje, A., (2005). Glacier fluctuations, equilibrium-line altitudes and palaeoclimate in Lyngen, northern Norway, during Lateglacial and Holocene. The Holocene 15, 518–540.Google Scholar
Barnekow, L., (1999). Holocene tree-line dynamics and inferred climatic changes in the Abisko area, northern Sweden, based on macrofossil and pollen record. The Holocene 9, 253–265.Google Scholar
Bigler, C., Larocque, I., Peglar, S.M., Birks, H.J.B., Hall, R.I., (2002). Quantitative multiproxy assessment of long-term patterns of Holocene environmental change from a small lake near Abisko, northern Sweden. The Holocene 12, 481–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigler, C., Barnekow, L., Heinrichs, M.L., Hall, R.I., (2006). Holocene environmental history of Lake Vuolep Njakajaure (Abisko National Park, northern Sweden) reconstructed using biological proxy indicators. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 15, 309–320.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., (1995). Quantitative palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Maddy, D., Brew, J.S., Statistical modeling of Quaternary science data. Technical Guide 5. Quaternary Research Association, Cambridge., 161–254.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., (1998). Numerical tools in quantitative palaeolimnology — progress, potentialities, and problems. Journal of Paleolimnology 20, 301–332.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., Seppä, H., (2004). Pollen-based reconstructions of late-Quaternary climate in Europe – progress, problems, and pitfalls. Acta Palaeobotanica 44, 317–334.Google Scholar
Birks, H.H., Klitgaard Kristensen, D., Dokken, T.M., Andersson, C., (2005). Exploratory comparisons of quantitative temperature estimates over the last deglaciation in Norway and the Norwegian Sea. Drange, H., Dokken, T., Furevik, T., Gerdes, R., Berger, W., The Nordic Seas: an integrated perspective. American Geophysical Union, Washington., 341–355.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., Line, J.M., Juggins, S., Stevenson, A.C., ter Braak, C.J.F., (1990). Diatoms and pH reconstruction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 327, 263–278.Google Scholar
Bjune, A.E., Birks, H.J.B., Seppä, H., (2004). Holocene vegetation and climate history on a continental-oceanic transect in northern Fennoscandia based on pollen and plant macrofossils. Boreas 33, 211–223.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., (2006). Abrupt climate changes revisited. Global and Planetary Change 54, 211–215.Google Scholar
Brooks, S.J., (2006). Fossil midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) as palaeoclimatic indicators for the Eurasian region. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 1894–1910.Google Scholar
Busuioc, A., Chen, D., Hellström, C., (2001). Temporal and spatial variability of precipitation in Sweden and its link with the large scale atmospheric circulation. Tellus 53A, 348–367.Google Scholar
CAPE Project members (2001). Holocene paleoclimate data from the Arctic: testing models of global climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 1275–1287.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C., Langdon, P., Holmes, N., (2006). Early Holocene climate variability and the timing and extent of the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) in northern Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 2314–2331.Google Scholar
Crawford, R.M.M., Jeffree, C.E., (2004). Northern climates and woody plant distribution. Oerback, J.R., Environmental Challenges in Arctic-Alpine Regions. Springer Verlag, Berlin., .Google Scholar
Crawford, R.M.M., Jeffree, C.E., Rees, W.G., (2003). Paludification and forest retreat in Northern oceanic environments. Annals of Botany 91, 213–226.Google Scholar
Dahl-Jensen, D., Monsegaard, K., Gundestrup, N., Clow, G.D., Johnsen, S.J., Hansen, A.W., Balling, N., (1998). Past temperatures directly from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Science 282, 268–271.Google Scholar
Davis, B.A.S., Brewer, S., Stevenson, A.C., Guiot, J., Data contributors (2003). The temperature of Europe during the Holocene reconstructed from pollen data. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1701–1716.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., Alley, R.B., Comer, G.C., Broecker, W.S., (2005). The role of seasonality in abrupt climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 1159–1182.Google Scholar
Eronen, M., Hyvärinen, H., Zetterberg, P., (1999). Holocene humidity changes in northern Finnish Lapland inferred from lake sediments and submerged Scots pines dated by tree-rings. The Holocene 9, 569–580.Google Scholar
Fimreite, S., Vorren, K.-D., Vorren, T., (2001). Vegetation, climate and ice-front oscillations in the Tromsø area, northern Norway during Allerød and Younger Dryas. Boreas 30, 89–100.Google Scholar
Ganopolski, A., Kubatzki, C., Claussen, M., Brovkin, V., Petoukhov, V., (1998). The influence of vegetation–atmosphere–ocean interaction on climate during the mid-Holocene. Science 280, 1916–1919.Google Scholar
Gervais, B.R., MacDonald, G.M., Snyder, J.A., Kremenetski, C.V., (2002). Pinus sylvestris treeline development and movement on the Kola Peninsula of Russia: pollen and stomate evidence. Journal of Ecology 90, 627–638.Google Scholar
Grace, J., Berninger, F., Nagy, L., (2002). Impacts of climate change on tree line. Annals of Botany 90, 537–544.Google Scholar
Hammarlund, D., Barnekow, L., Birks, H.J.B., Buchardt, B., Edwards, T.W.D., (2002). Holocene changes in atmospheric circulation recorded in the oxygen-isotope stratigraphy of lacustrine carbonates from northern Sweden. The Holocene 12, 339–351.Google Scholar
Helama, S., Lindholm, M., Timonen, M., Eronen, M., (2004). Dendrochronologically dated changes in the limit of pine in northernmost Finland during the past 7.5 millennia. Boreas 33, 250–259.Google Scholar
Hyvärinen, H., (1975). Absolute and relative pollen diagrams from northernmost Fennoscandia. Fennia 142, 1–23.Google Scholar
Ilyashuk, E.A., Ilyashuk, B.P., Hammarlund, D., Larocque, I., (2005). Holocene climatic and enviromental changes inferred from midge records (Diptera: Chironomidae, Chaoboridae, Ceratopogonidae) at Lake Berkut, southern Kola Peninsula, Russia. The Holocene 15, 897–914.Google Scholar
Jensen, C., Kuiper, J.G.J., Vorren, K.D., (2002). First post-glacial establishment of forest trees: early Holocene vegetation, mollusc settlement and climate dynamics in central Troms, North Norway. Boreas 31, 285–301.Google Scholar
Johnsen, S.J., Dahl-Jensen, D., Gundestrup, N., Stefensen, J.P., Clausen, H.B., Miller, H., Masson-Delmotte, V., Sveinbjörnsdottir, A.E., White, J., (2001). Oxygen isotope and palaeotemperature records from six Greenland ice core stations: Camp Century, Dye-3, GRIP, GISP2, Renland and NorthGRIP. Journal of Quaternary Science 16, 299–307.Google Scholar
Kerwin, M.W., Overpeck, J.T., Webb, R.S., Anderson, K.H., (2004). Pollen-based summer temperature reconstructions for the eastern Canadian boreal forest, subarctic, and Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 1901–1924.Google Scholar
Korhola, A., Tikkanen, M., Weckström, J., (2005). Quantification of Holocene lake-level changes in Finnish Lapland using a cladocera-lake depth transfer function. Journal of Paleolimnology 34, 175–190.Google Scholar
Körner, C., (2006). Significance of temperature in plant life. Morison, J.I.L., Morecroft, M.D., Plant growth and climate change. Blackwell, Oxford., 48–69.Google Scholar
Kremenetski, C.V., Sulerzhitksky, L.D., Hantemirov, R., (1998). Holocene history of the northern limits of some trees and shrubs in Russia. Arctic and Alpine Research 30, 317–333.Google Scholar
Kultti, S., Mikkola, K., Virtanen, T., Timonen, M., Eronen, M., (2006). Past changes in the Scots pine forest line and climate in Finnish Lapland: a study based on megafossils, lake sediments, and GIS-based vegetation and climate data. The Holocene 16, 381–391.Google Scholar
Kvingedal, B., (2005). Sea-ice extent and variability in the Nordic Seas, 1967–2002. Drange, H., Dokken, T., Furevik, T., Gerdes, R., Berger, W., The Nordic Seas: an integrated perspective. American Geophysical Union, Washington., 39–49.Google Scholar
Larocque, I., Hall, R.I., (2004). Holocene temperature estimates and chironomid community composition in the Abisko Valley, northern Sweden. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 2453–2465.Google Scholar
Lie, O., Paasche, O., (2006). How extreme was northern hemisphere seasonality during the Younger Dryas?. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 404–407.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Gervais, B.R., Snyder, J.A., Tarasov, G.A., Borisova, O.K., (2000a). Radiocarbon dated Pinus sylvestris L. wood from beyond treeline on the Kola Peninsula, Russia. The Holocene 10, 143–147.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Velichko, A.A., Kremenetski, C.V., Borisova, O.K., Goleva, A.A., Andreev, A.A., Cwynar, L.C., Riding, R.T., Forman, S.L., Edward, T.W.D., Aravena, R., Hammarlund, D., Szeicz, J.M., Gattaulin, V.N., (2000b). Holocene treeline history and climate change across Northern Eurasia. Quaternary Research 53, 302–311.Google Scholar
Paus, A., Svendsen, J.I., Matiouckov, A., (2003). Late Weichselian (Valdaian) and Holocene vegetation and environmental history of the northern Timan Ridge, European Arctic Russia. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 2285–2302.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, S.O., Andersen, K.K., Svensson, A.M., Steffensen, J.P., Vinther, B.M., Clausen, H.B., Siggaard-Andersen, M.-L., Johnsen, S.J., Larsen, B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Bigler, M., Röthlisberger, R., Fischer, H., Goto-Azuma, K., Hansson, M.E., Ruth, U., (2006). A new Greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination. Journal of Geophysical Research 111, D06102 .Google Scholar
Rosén, P., Segerström, U., Eriksson, L., Renberg, I., Birks, H.J.B., (2001). Holocene climate change reconstructed from diatoms, chironomids, pollen and near-infrared spectroscopy at an alpine lake (Sjuodjijaure) in northern Sweden. The Holocene 11, 551–562.Google Scholar
Seppä, H., Birks, H.J.B., (2001). July mean temperature and annual precipitation trends during the Holocene in the Fennoscandian tree-line area: pollen-based climate reconstructions. The Holocene 11, 527–537.Google Scholar
Seppä, H., Birks, H.J.B., (2002). Holocene climate reconstructions from the Fennoscandian tree-line area based on pollen data from Toskaljavri. Quaternary Research 57, 191–199.Google Scholar
Seppä, H., Birks, H.H., Birks, H.J.B., (2002a). Rapid climate changes during the Greenland stadial 1 (Younger Dryas) to early Holocene transition on the Norwegian Barents Sea coast. Boreas 31, 215–225.Google Scholar
Seppä, H., Nyman, M., Korhola, A., Weckström, J., (2002b). Changes of tree-lines and arctic-alpine vegetation in relation to post-glacial climate dynamics in northern Fennoscandia based on pollen and chironomid records. Journal of Quaternary Science 17, 287–301.Google Scholar
Shemesh, A., Rosqvist, G., Rietti-Shati, M., Rubensdotter, L., Bigler, C., Yam, R., Karlén, W., (2001). Holocene climatic change in Swedish Lapland inferred from oxygen-isotope record of lacustrine biogenic silica. The Holocene 11, 447–454.Google Scholar
Snyder, J.A., Forman, S.L., Mode, W., Tarasov, G.A., (1997). Postglacial relative sea-level history: sediment and diatom records of emerged coastal lakes, north-central Kola Peninsula, Russia. Boreas 26, 329–346.Google Scholar
Snyder, J.A., MacDonald, G.M., Forman, S.L., Tarasov, G.A., Mode, W.N., (2000). Postglacial climate and vegetation history, north-central Kola Peninsula, Russia: pollen and diatom records from Lake Yarnyshnoe-3. Boreas 29, 261–271.Google Scholar
Solovieva, N., Tarasov, P.E., MacDonald, G.M., (2005). Quantitative reconstruction of Holocene climate from the Chuna Lake pollen record, Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia. Holocene 15, 141–148.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P., (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., van der Plicht, J., Spurk, M., (1998). INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration. Radiocarbon 40, 1041–1083.Google Scholar
Sveinbjornsson, B., (2000). North American and European treelines: external forces and internal processes controlling position. Ambio 29, 388–395.Google Scholar
ter Braak, C.J.F., (1986). Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67, 1167–1179.Google Scholar
ter Braak, C.J.F., Juggins, S., (1993). Weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WA-PLS): an improved method for reconstructing environmental variables from species assemblages. Hydrobiologia 269/270, 485–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuhkanen, S., (1993). Treeline in relation to climate, with special reference to oceanic areas. Alden, J., Mastrantonio, J.L., Odum, S., Forest development in cold climates. Plenum, New York., 115–134.Google Scholar
Väliranta, M., Kultti, S., Seppä, H., (2006). Vegetation dynamics during the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition in the extreme northern taiga zone, northeastern European Russia. Boreas 35, 202–212.Google Scholar
Velle, G., Brooks, S.J., Birks, H.J.B., Willassen, E., (2005). Chironomids as a tool for inferring Holocene climate: an assessment based on six sites in southern Scandinavia. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 1429–1462.Google Scholar
Weckström, J., Korhola, A., Erästö, P., Holmström, L., (2006). Temperature patterns over the past eight centuries in Northern Fennoscandia inferred from sedimentary diatoms. Quaternary Research 66, 78–86.Google Scholar
Wolfe, B.B., Edward, T.D.W., Jiang, H., MacDonald, G.M., Gervais, B.R., Snyder, J.A., (2003). Effect of varying oceanicity to early- to mid-Holocene palaeohydrology, Kola Peninsula, Russia: isotopic evidence from treeline lakes. The Holocene 13, 153–160.Google Scholar