Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Witte, H. J. L.
• Coope, G. R.
• Lemdahl, G.
• Lowe, J. J.

Titel

Regression coefficients of thermal gradients in northwestern Europe during the last glacial-Holocene transition using beetle MCR data

Ist Teil von

• Journal of quaternary science, 1998-09, Vol.13 (5), p.435-445

Ort / Verlag

Essex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

1998

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Palaeotemperature estimates obtained from 74 sites in northern Europe, and collectively spanning approximately the last 45000 yr (radiocarbon time‐scale), have been compiled as a major component of the EPECC project. The data presented here have been obtained using the mutual climatic range (MCR) method based on beetle assemblage data. The sites range across a transect from Ireland in the west to Poland and Finland in the east. Thermal gradients have been derived from the data using multiple linear regression. The regression models were solved for each of a series of ‘time windows’. Each interval has a separate time‐dependant trend, which was removed by detrending before solving the regression equations. The robustness and confidence intervals of the regression coefficients were estimated using the bootstrap method, with samples being selected from the data set by Monte Carlo simulation. The resulting palaeotemperature gradients were compared with modern temperature gradients over Europe. The data suggest that there were significant changes in the steepness of latitudinal temperature gradients over northern Europe during the past 45 000 yr, although most attention in our compilations is focused on the last glacial–Holocene transition, the period for which the most abundant data are available so far. A significant delay in warming at the end of the last glacial stage in the northern part of the study area, by comparison with the southern sector, is also inferred. Reasons for these temporal and geographical variations and their possible palaeoclimatic implications are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.