Present-day climatic equivalents of European Cenozoic climates

Abstract

Recently, continental climate evolution in Central Europe over the last 45 Ma has been reconstructed from the palaeobotanical record using a Nearest Living Relative methodology (Coexistence Approach; CA). The reconstructed climate curves document in detail the transition from almost tropical conditions in the Mid-Eocene to a temperate climate at the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition. The observed climatic shifts are primarily expressed as non-proportional changes of the different variables taken into account. In the present study a published palaeoclimate data set for a total of 42 macrofloras complemented by new calculations is used as base to analyse the climatic space in which a fossil flora existed. To define these spaces CA intervals calculated for 3 temperature (mean annual temperature, cold and warm month mean) and 3 precipitation variables (mean annual precipitation, mean monthly precipitation of the driest and of the wettest month) are combined. Using a global gridded climatology (10' resolution), this climate space is then utilized to identify Recent climate analogues with respect to the variables regarded. For 18 macrofloras climatic analogue regions with respect to 6 variables are identified on the globe. For 16 macrofloras, analogues exist when three temperature parameters and mean annual precipitation are regarded. No Recent equivalents are found in 8 cases. This corroborates the assumption of the temporary existence of non-analogue climates in the Cenozoic. As shown by multivariate statistics the observed anomalies with respect to present-day conditions basically refer to high winter temperatures. Deploying a GIS, the Recent climate analogues can be presented as sets of grid cells for each flora that can be mapped on a globe. Once identified, these regions can be merged with adequate thematic layers to assess additional proxy data for the palaeofloras. To exemplify the procedure Koeppen climate type, numbers of days with ground frost, as well as Matthews biome classes are reconstructed. The resulting Koeppen types, ranging from A to C, are largely consistent with data previously published. The ground frost record shows almost frost-free conditions for the Mid-Eocene greenhouse and for the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. For the Chattian, up to 7 days with ground frost result. During the Late Miocene Cooling the number of days with ground frost significantly increased. The inferred Matthews biomes reveal changing patterns of evergreen and deciduous forest cover. When Recent climate analogues are found for a fossil flora, present climate can be used to calibrate the original CA data. It is shown that calibration considerably improves the resolution of the continental climate records.