Two millennia of climate change, wildfires, and caribou hunting in west Greenland ...

• Main Authors: Strunk, Astrid, Krüger, Sascha, Jensen, Jens Fog, Olsen, Jesper, Jessen, Catherine
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: SAGE Journals 2024
• Subjects: Geography; History; Greenland; inuit; Kangerlussuaq; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.7243005.v1; https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Two_millennia_of_climate_change_wildfires_and_caribou_hunting_in_west_Greenland/7243005/1

Changing climatic conditions is a perpetual circumstance for mankind. In this study, we investigate local environmental and climatic changes near Kangerlussuaq, west Greenland. Our reconstruction is based on a lake sediment core and methods include chemical proxies and a palynological analysis. The investigated site is located 15 km from the Aasivissuit Inuit summer hunting ground, which has been in use for caribou hunting for more than 2000 years. The presented climatic reconstruction covers the time from c. 560 CE to present time. We identify three distinct periods of climate regimes: From c. 560–1100 CE conditions were stable, warm and humid, and summer temperatures were 1.5–2°C warmer than today. 1100–1600 was a period of cooler and very arid conditions with more sea ice, corresponding to the Neoglacial cooling. In this period, we detect two wildfire events and subsequent temporary caribou abandonment of the area. From 1600 to present we find increasingly warmer conditions with more precipitation and ...