Late Holocene dinoflagellate cysts as indicators for short‐term climate variability in the eastern Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean)

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Kunz‐Pirrung, Martina, Matthiessen, Jens, de Vernal, Anne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2001
• Subjects: Paleontology; Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous); Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; Climate change; laptev
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.649; http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.649; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.649

Abstract A sediment sequence from the eastern Laptev Sea shelf (Siberian Arctic, Russia) has been studied for dinoflagellate cysts in order to reconstruct sea‐surface conditions during the late Holocene. Variability of assemblage composition and derived sea‐surface temperature estimates indicate that the neoglacial cooling was not a gradual climate change from 2510 to 900 cal. yr BP. Relatively stable conditions, with temperatures that were warmer than today, were punctuated by a few cooling events in summer on centennial time‐scales. During these events temperatures reached modern values. This suggests that modern conditions may have been established abruptly within a short period in the past 1000 yr, which is not documented in our record. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.