Is there evidence for a 4.2 ka BP event in the northern North Atlantic region?

• Published in: Climate of the Past
• Main Authors: R. S. Bradley, J. Bakke
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2019
• Subjects: Environmental pollution; TD172-193.5; Environmental protection; TD169-171.8; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1665-2019; https://doaj.org/article/d8400b311f0a4726890b0fcb90609e8e

We review paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic records from the northern North Atlantic to assess the nature of climatic conditions at 4.2 ka BP, which has been identified as a time of exceptional climatic anomalies in many parts of the world. The northern North Atlantic region experienced relatively warm conditions from 6 to 8 ka BP, followed by a general decline in temperatures after ∼5 ka BP, which led to the onset of neoglaciation. Over the last 5000 years, a series of multi-decadal- to century-scale fluctuations occurred, superimposed on an overall decline in temperature. Although a few records do show a glacial advance around 4.2 ka BP, because they are not widespread we interpret them as local events – simply one glacial advance of many that occurred in response to the overall climatic deterioration that characterized the late Holocene.