Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Regional Paleoclimates of Boreal Canada during the Holocene

doi:10.1175/2008JCLI2342.1

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Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Regional Paleoclimates of Boreal Canada during the Holocene

Journal Article•DOI•

Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Regional Paleoclimates of Boreal Canada during the Holocene

A. E. Viau¹, Konrad Gajewski¹•Institutions (1)

University of Ottawa¹

15 Jan 2009-Journal of Climate (American Meteorological Society)-Vol. 22, Iss: 2, pp 316-330

TL;DR: In this paper, regional paleoclimate reconstructions for northern Canada quantify Holocene climate variability on orbital and millennial time scales and provide a context to better understand the current global warming.

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Abstract: Regional paleoclimate reconstructions for northern Canada quantify Holocene climate variability on orbital and millennial time scales and provide a context to better understand the current global warming. The reconstructions are based on available pollen diagrams from the boreal and low Arctic zones of Canada and use the modern analog technique (MAT). Four regional reconstructions document the space–time evolution of the climate during the Holocene. Highest summer and winter temperatures anomalies are found in central Canada during the early Holocene. Eastern Canada was relatively cool in the early Holocene, whereas central Canada was warmest at that time. Labrador was relatively dry in the early to mid-Holocene during which time western Canada was relatively moist. Millennial-scale temperature variations, especially the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are seen across the continent, with some suggestion of time-transgressive changes from west to east. At the millennial scale, precipitatio...

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Journal Article•DOI•

Pollen-based continental climate reconstructions at 6 and 21 ka: A global synthesis

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Patrick J. Bartlein¹, Sandy P. Harrison², Sandy P. Harrison³, Simon Brewer⁴, Simon Connor⁵, Basil A. S. Davis⁶, Konrad Gajewski⁷, Joel Guiot, T I Harrison-Prentice, A S Henderson⁸, Odile Peyron⁹, Iain Colin Prentice², Iain Colin Prentice³, Marko Scholze², Heikki Seppä¹⁰, Bryan N. Shuman⁴, Shinya Sugita¹¹, Robert S. Thompson¹², A. E. Viau⁷, John W. Williams¹³, Haibin Wu¹⁴ - Show less +17 more•Institutions (14)

University of Oregon¹, University of Bristol², Macquarie University³, University of Wyoming⁴, University of the Algarve⁵, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne⁶, University of Ottawa⁷, University of Minnesota⁸, Centre national de la recherche scientifique⁹, University of Helsinki¹⁰, Tallinn University¹¹, United States Geological Survey¹², University of Wisconsin-Madison¹³, Chinese Academy of Sciences¹⁴

01 Aug 2011-Climate Dynamics

TL;DR: In this article, the mid-Holocene (MH, around 6 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, around 21 ka) were compared with palaeoclimate simulations currently being carried out as part of the fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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Abstract: Subfossil pollen and plant macrofossil data derived from 14 C-dated sediment profiles can provide quantitative information on glacial and interglacial cli- mates. The data allow climate variables related to growing- season warmth, winter cold, and plant-available moisture to be reconstructed. Continental-scale reconstructions have been made for the mid-Holocene (MH, around 6 ka) and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, around 21 ka), allowing comparison with palaeoclimate simulations currently being carried out as part of the fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The synthesis of the available MH and LGM climate recon- structions and their uncertainties, obtained using modern- analogue, regression and model-inversion techniques, is presented for four temperature variables and two moisture variables. Reconstructions of the same variables based on

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554 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Anticipating the consequences of climate change for Canada’s boreal forest ecosystems1

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T PriceDavid¹, LakustaT., JohnstonM.², StrattonT.³•Institutions (3)

Natural Resources Canada¹, Saskatchewan Research Council², Alberta Environment³

06 Dec 2013-Environmental Reviews

TL;DR: The boreal woodlands and forests cover approximately 3.09 × 106 km2 in Canada and are characterized by cool summers and long cold winters as discussed by the authors, and have been warm since the 1850s.

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Abstract: Canadian boreal woodlands and forests cover approximately 3.09 × 106 km2, located within a larger boreal zone characterized by cool summers and long cold winters. Warming since the 1850s, increases...

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429 citations

Cites background from "Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..."

...Within the last two millennia, summer temperatures were generally warmer during the Medieval climate anomaly (900–1200 AD), compared with the Little Ice Age (LIA) interval (1400–1700 AD; Dyke 2005; Viau and Gajewski 2009), particularly in west central Canada....
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...6000 BP in the Taiga Cordillera, Taiga Plains, Taiga ShieldWest (Gajewski et al. 2000; Viau and Gajewski 2009), and the northern Boreal Cordillera (Bunbury and Gajewski 2009)....
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...7000–3000 BP in the southern Boreal Cordillera (Gajewski et al. 2000; Lavoie and Richard 2000; Muller et al. 2003; Bunbury and Gajewski 2009; Viau and Gajewski 2009), as well as in the Taiga Shield East (Payette and Filion 1993; Lavoie and Richard 2000), Boreal Shield East (Girardin et al....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Global biomass burning: a synthesis and review of Holocene paleofire records and their controls

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Jennifer R. Marlon¹, Patrick J. Bartlein², Anne-Laure Daniau³, Sandy P. Harrison⁴, Shira Y. Maezumi⁵, Mitchell J. Power⁵, Willy Tinner⁶, Boris Vannière³ - Show less +4 more•Institutions (6)

University of Wisconsin-Madison¹, University of Oregon², Centre national de la recherche scientifique³, Macquarie University⁴, University of Utah⁵, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research⁶

01 Apr 2013-Quaternary Science Reviews

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors synthesize existing sedimentary charcoal records to reconstruct Holocene fire history at regional, continental and global scales, and compare the two potential controls of burning at these broad scales to assess their relative importance on trends in biomass burning.

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311 citations

Cites background from "Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..."

...Lawrence region and apparently remained that way during the late Holocene (Lynch et al., 2004; Viau and Gajewski, 2009)....
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...Conditions became warmer and effectively wetter during the midto late-Holocene transition in both the Boreal and St. Lawrence region and apparently remained that way during the late Holocene (Lynch et al., 2004; Viau and Gajewski, 2009)....
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...…enough to cause biome-scale vegetation and fire responses, such as the expansion and contraction of boreal forests during the Holocene (Ritchie, 1987; Hu et al., 1996; Carcaillet et al., 2006; Viau and Gajewski, 2009) and the greening of the Sahara in the mid-Holocene (Claussen and Gayler, 1997)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Global characterization of the Holocene Thermal Maximum

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Hans Renssen¹, Heikki Seppä², Xavier Crosta³, Hugues Goosse⁴, Didier M. Roche⁵, Didier M. Roche¹ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (5)

VU University Amsterdam¹, University of Helsinki², University of Bordeaux³, Université catholique de Louvain⁴, Centre national de la recherche scientifique⁵

10 Aug 2012-Quaternary Science Reviews

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the global variations in the timing and magnitude of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) and their dependence on various forcings in transient simulations covering the last 9000 years (9 ka), performed with a global atmosphere-ocean-vegetation model.

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288 citations

Cites methods from "Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..."

...In NE Canada, our model agrees with the pollen-based reconstructions of peak Holocene warming between 7 and 5 ka BP and temperature anomalies of about 1 C relative to the preindustrial (Kaufman et al., 2004; Kerwin et al., 2004; Renssen et al., 2009; Viau and Gajewski, 2009)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 2: Two interglacials, scientific objective and experimental design for Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations

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Bette L. Otto-Bliesner¹, Pascale Braconnot², Sandy P. Harrison³, Daniel J. Lunt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi⁴, Ayako Abe-Ouchi⁵, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Emilie Capron⁶, Anders E. Carlson⁷, Andrea Dutton⁸, Hubertus Fischer⁹, Heilko Goelzer¹⁰, Heilko Goelzer¹¹, Aline Govin², Alan M. Haywood¹², Fortunat Joos⁹, Allegra N. LeGrande¹³, William H. Lipscomb¹⁴, Gerrit Lohmann¹⁵, Natalie M. Mahowald¹⁶, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles⁹, Francesco S. R. Pausata¹⁷, Jean-Yves Peterschmitt², Steven J. Phipps¹⁸, Hans Renssen¹⁹, Qiong Zhang - Show less +23 more•Institutions (19)

National Center for Atmospheric Research¹, Université Paris-Saclay², University of Reading³, University of Tokyo⁴, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology⁵, University of Copenhagen⁶, Oregon State University⁷, University of Florida⁸, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research⁹, Utrecht University¹⁰, Université libre de Bruxelles¹¹, University of Leeds¹², Goddard Space Flight Center¹³, Los Alamos National Laboratory¹⁴, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research¹⁵, Ithaca College¹⁶, Université du Québec¹⁷, Hobart Corporation¹⁸, University College of Southeast Norway¹⁹

28 Nov 2016-Geoscientific Model Development

TL;DR: In this article, two interglacial epochs are included in the suite of PMIP4 simulations in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) simulations.

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Abstract: Two interglacial epochs are included in the suite of Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP4) simulations in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). The experimental protocols for Tier 1 simulations of the mid-Holocene (midHolocene, 6000 years before present) and the Last Interglacial (lig127k, 127,000 years before present) are described here. These equilibrium simulations are designed to examine the impact of changes in orbital forcing at times when atmospheric greenhouse gas levels were similar to those of the preindustrial period and the continental configurations were almost identical to modern. These simulations test our understanding of the interplay between radiative forcing and atmospheric circulation, and the connections among large-scale and regional climate changes giving rise to phenomena such as land-sea contrast and high-latitude amplification in temperature changes, and responses of the monsoons, as compared to today. They also provide an opportunity, through carefully designed additional CMIP6 Tier 2 and Tier 3 sensitivity experiments of PMIP4, to quantify the strength of atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and land-surface feedbacks. Sensitivity experiments are proposed to investigate the role of freshwater forcing in triggering abrupt climate changes within interglacial epochs. These feedback experiments naturally lead to a focus on climate evolution during interglacial periods, which will be examined through transient experiments. Analyses of the sensitivity simulations will also focus on interactions between extratropical and tropical circulation, and the relationship between changes in mean climate state and climate variability on annual to multi-decadal timescales. The comparative abundance of paleoenvironmental data and of quantitative climate reconstructions for the Holocene and Last Interglacial make these two epochs ideal candidates for systematic evaluation of model performance, and such comparisons will shed new light on the importance of external feedbacks (e.g., vegetation, dust) and the ability of state-of-the-art models to simulate climate changes realistically.

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180 citations

Cites background from "Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..."

...Emilie Capron is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and innovation under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 600207....
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...…Marcott et al., 2013; Shakun et al., 2012), or are available as geographically explicit data sets only for a limited number of climate variables in a few regions such as North America or Europe (Davis et al., 2003; Gajewski, 2015; Mauri et al., 2014; Viau and Gajewski, 2009; Viau et al., 2006)....
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...Synthetic products have either focused on reconstructions of global temperature changes (Clark et al., 2012; Marcott et al., 2013; Shakun et al., 2012), or are available as geographically explicit data sets only for a limited number of climate variables in a few regions such as North America or Europe (Davis et al., 2003; Gajewski, 2015; Mauri et al., 2014; Viau and Gajewski, 2009; Viau et al., 2006)....
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...Alan Haywood acknowledges that his contribution to this research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement number 278636....
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..., 2012), or are available as geographically explicit data sets only for a limited number of climate variables in a few regions such as North America or Europe (Davis et al., 2003; Gajewski, 2015; Mauri et al., 2014; Viau and Gajewski, 2009; Viau et al., 2006)....
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References

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Susan Solomon, Dahe Qin, Martin R. Manning, Melinda Marquis, Kristen Averyt, Melinda M.B. Tignor, H. L. Miller, Z. Chen - Show less +4 more

01 Jan 2007

TL;DR: The first volume of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report as mentioned in this paper was published in 2007 and covers several topics including the extensive range of observations now available for the atmosphere and surface, changes in sea level, assesses the paleoclimatic perspective, climate change causes both natural and anthropogenic, and climate models for projections of global climate.

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Abstract: This report is the first volume of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report. It covers several topics including the extensive range of observations now available for the atmosphere and surface, changes in sea level, assesses the paleoclimatic perspective, climate change causes both natural and anthropogenic, and climate models for projections of global climate.

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32,826 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP

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Minze Stuiver, Paula J. Reimer, Edouard Bard, J.W Beck, George S. Burr, Konrad A Hughen, Bernd Kromer, Gerry McCormac, Johannes van der Plicht, Marco Spurk - Show less +6 more

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Abstract: The focus of this paper is the conversion of radiocarbon ages to calibrated (cal) ages for the interval 24,000-0 cal BP (Before Present, 0 cal BP = AD 1950), based upon a sample set of dendrochronologically dated tree rings, uranium-thorium dated corals, and varve-counted marine sediment. The 14C age-cal age information, produced by many laboratories, is converted to 14C profiles and calibration curves, for the atmosphere as well as the oceans. We discuss offsets in measured 14C ages and the errors therein, regional 14C age differences, tree-coral 14C age comparisons and the time dependence of marine reservoir ages, and evaluate decadal vs. single-year 14C results. Changes in oceanic deepwater circulation, especially for the 16,000-11,000 cal BP interval, are reflected in the Δ 14C values of INTCAL98.

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4,300 citations

"Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..." refers methods in this paper

...Calendar-year age– depth models were then derived using internationally ratified calibration curves (INTCAL98) (Stuiver et al. 1998)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: observations and model simulations

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Cohmap Members

26 Aug 1988-Science

TL;DR: In this article, changes in solar radiation arising from changes in the orientation of the earth's axis had pronounced effects on tropical monsoons and mid-latitude climates as well as on ice-sheet configuration.

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Abstract: Changes in solar radiation arising from changes in the orientation of the earth's axis had pronounced effects on tropical monsoons and mid-latitude climates as well as on ice-sheet configuration du...

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1,843 citations

"Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..." refers methods in this paper

...However, most of the previous work has consisted of mapping certain time intervals, such as 6 ka (e.g., COHMAP Members 1988; Gajewski et al. 2000; Sawada et al. 2004), or producing time series from one or several sites (e.g., Gajewski 1988; Sawada et al. 1999; Kerwin et al. 2004)....
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...Using key time intervals, data–model comparisons show strong regional responses to orbital forcing (e.g., COHMAP Members 1988)....
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Arctic climate impact assessment

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Carolyn Symon, Lelani Arris, Bill Heal, Assesment Intergration Team

01 Jan 2005

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Abstract: 1. An introduction to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment 2. Arctic climate: past and present 3. The changing Arctic: indigenous perspectives 4. Future climate change: modeling and scenarios for the Arctic 5. Ozone and ultraviolet radiation 6. Cryosphere and hydrology 7. Arctic tundra and polar fesert ecosystems 8. Freshwater ecosystems and Fisheries 9. Marine Systems 10. Principles of conserving the Arctic's Biodiversity 11. Management and conservation of wildlife in a changing Arctic environment 12. Hunting, herding, fishing, and gathering: indigenous peoples and renewable resource use in the Arctic 13. Fisheries and aquaculture 14. Forests, land management, and agriculture 15. Human health 16. Infrastructure: buildings, support systems, and industrial facilities 17. Climate change in the context of multiple stressors and resilience 18. Summary and synthesis of the ACIA Appendix A. Chapter authors Appendix B. Biographies Appendix C. Reviewers Appendix D. Species names Appendix E. Acronyms Appendix F. Glossary.

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1,775 citations

Book•

Global Climates: since the Last Glacial Maximum

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Murray Gray, Herbert E. Wright

19 Jan 1994

1,055 citations

"Reconstructing Millennial-Scale, Re..." refers background in this paper

...Although climate change is invoked as an explanation for vegetation change in pollen diagrams, most palynological analysis has focused on the response of plants and vegetation to climate variability on orbital scales (e.g., Wright et al. 1993)....
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