Ice‐Wedge Evidence of Holocene Winter Warming in the Canadian Arctic

Abstract

AbstractArctic summer temperatures mostly cooled over the last ~7 kyr, owing to decreasing summer insolation. However, knowledge of the winter season is limited in the Arctic paleoclimate literature. Here we develop a composite record of δ18O from ice wedges—a winter precipitation archive—to reconstruct changes in winter climate in the northwestern Canadian Arctic since ~7.4 kyr b2k. Our record shows a long‐term δ18O enrichment (+(0.14 ± 0.10)‰ kyr−1), suggesting winter temperatures increased since the mid‐Holocene, a finding that is corroborated by reconstructions from the Siberian Arctic. Winter warming over the last ~7 kyr is consistent with increasing winter insolation and greenhouse gas forcing. This study provides some of the first insights on the sensitivity of winter temperatures in the Canadian Arctic to past, and potentially future, climate forcings, and contributes to a more seasonally holistic understanding of the Arctic system.