The Late Quaternary history of northern Eurasia and the adjacent Arctic Ocean: an introduction to QUEEN

Abstract

The European climate has been subject to rapid and dramatic changes during the latest geologic past, mainly because of the instability and variability of the regional extension of the temperate climatic zones into very high northern latitudes, in particular over northwestern Europe and the adjacent ocean basin (Fig. 1). From reconstructions of the Late Cenozoic climatic history of this area (CLIMAP 1976) it is well known that peak interglacial climates when this anomalyexisted were rare exceptions from the more normal glacial conditions when the extension of the Gulf Stream current system did not enter the NonvegianGreenland Sea, thus generating patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation which resulted in a substantially colder climate over Europe than we have today. The programme Quaternary Environments of the Eurasian North (QUEEN), sponsored by the European Science Foundation, atempts to correlate well established and well dated records of the Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental history of the northern and eastern segments of this anomaly which are particularly poorly known, but where rapid progress has been achieved over the past years (e.g. Kassens et al. 1999). Northern Europe probably experienced the most dramatic and fastest climatic changes over the youngest geological past (Andersen & Borns 1994), as compared to other terrestrial environments of this Earth. Many studies indicate that it may also be subject to substantial changes in the future (Lozan et al. 1998), regardless of whether or not such changes are triggered by natural climatic variability or the impact of man on the global environment (GLOBAL CHANGE). To safeguard the future not only of the European populations, but of mankind itself, it is therefore highly important to understand the past climatic history of the region. Such studies will help to gain some insight into the “memory” of the climate over the northern hemisphere which led to the development of the modem climate, but potentially also to establish a scientific base for climate prognosis. The most prominent expressions of the properties of the Late Quaternary climates over the northern hemisphere are the waxing and waning of large glacial ice sheets on the circum-Arctic continents. The areas they covered are, by virtue of their