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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 7, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1994

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS... PALEOCLIMATOLOGY

Item #d94oct12

"Marked Post-18th Century Environmental Change in High Arctic Ecosystems," M.S.V. Douglas (Dept. Geol., Univ. Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003), J.P. Smol, W. Blake Jr., Science, 266(5184), 416-419, Oct. 21, 1994.

Three high-Arctic ponds experienced unparalleled changes in diatom assemblages beginning in the 19th century. Although possibly related to recent climate warming, the alterations in these seemingly pristine ponds are nevertheless dramatic; any hopes of cataloging natural assemblages may already be fruitless.

Item #d94oct13

"Climate Variations in Europe over the Past 140 kyr Deduced from Rock Magnetism," N. Thouveny (Lab. Géol. Quaternaire, Luminy, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France), J.-L. de Beaulieu et al., Nature, 371(6497), 503-506, Oct. 6, 1994.

Magnetic susceptibility, pollen and organic carbon records from maar lake deposits in the Massif Central, France, provide an independent record of past climate. Two rapid Eemian cooling events correlate well with the GRIP ice core, supporting other recent evidence that rapid climate change did occur in the Eemian interglacial and extended to continental Europe.

Item #d94oct14

Three related items in Nature, 371(6495), Sep. 22, 1994.

"Core Correlations," R. Zahn (GEOMAR, Kiel Univ., D-24148 Kiel, Ger.), 289-290. Synthesizes recent findings from ocean sediments (presented in the following two papers) and from Greenland ice cores into the current picture of climatic fluctuations during the last interglacial. Lake sediment results soon to be published may resolve present ambiguities.

"The Role of the Deep Ocean in North Atlantic Climate Change Between 70 and 130 kyr Ago," L.D. Keigwin (Woods Hole Oceanog. Inst., Woods Hole MA 02543), W.B. Curry et al., 323-326. Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of benthic foraminifera in a 70-130 kyr old sediment core allowed reconstruction of the history of north Atlantic deep water (NADW) production. In contrast with recent ice-core data, no change in NADW production was found during the Eemian interglacial. That apparent instability may be an artifact caused by ice flow, or Eemian climate instability may have had a different origin from subsequent climate events.

"High Resolution Climate Records from the North Atlantic During the Last Interglacial," J.F. McManus (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observ., Palisades NY 10964), G.C. Bond et al., 326-329. Presents records of foraminiferal assemblages and ice-rafted detritus for 65-135 kyr ago, thus extending the surface-ocean record to the Eemian. These records show a more stable climate than implied by the GRIP ice core; localized phenomena may be responsible for the variability in the latter record during the Eemian.

Item #d94oct15

"Greenland Ice Evidence of Hemispheric Lead Pollution Two Millenia Ago by Greek and Roman Civilizations," S. Hong et al., . . C.F. Boutron (Lab. Glaciol. & Geophys., CNRS, 54 rue Molière, Domaine Univ., B.P. 96, 38402 Grenoble/St. Martin d'Héres, France), 1841-1843.

Greek and Roman lead and silver mining and smelting polluted the middle troposphere throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Cumulative lead fallout to the Greenland ice sheet from 500 B.C. to 300 A.D. was as high as 15% of that from the use of leaded gasoline since the 1930s.