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Abstract Subannual climate reconstructions of the Holocene are rare despite the ability of such records to provide a better understanding of the underlying factors that drive subannual climate variability. We used specialized confocal laser fluorescent microscope imaging and automated secondary ion mass spectrometry microanalysis to resolve a seasonal oxygen isotope (δ18O) record of a late Holocene–aged (2.7–2.1 ka) speleothem from mid-continental North America. We did this by measuring intra-band δ18O variability (Δ18O) within 117 annual bands over a 600 yr span of the late Holocene. We interpret a change in Δ18O values after 2.4 ± 0.1 ka to reflect an increase in the amount of winter precipitation. Our study produced direct measurements of past seasonality, offers new insights into shifting seasonal precipitation patterns that occurred during the late Holocene in central North America, and adds a new tool for understanding the complex precipitation and temperature histories of this region.
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This content will become publicly available on April 25, 2026
The seasonal temperature conundrum for the Holocene
Temperature is the key variable in the study of climate changes in the past and future. Most previous studies on past temperature reconstructions, however, have focused on the mean annual temperature (MAT). Here, focusing on the seasonal temperature reconstructions in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics during the Holocene period, we show that the change in seasonal cycle of temperature reconstructions is severely underestimated in comparison with the expectation from present observations. Our study highlights the current uncertainty in seasonal temperature reconstructions in the Holocene, with an implication that the MAT simulation in current climate models may not be much biased.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2202911
- PAR ID:
- 10630367
- Publisher / Repository:
- Science
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 17
- ISSN:
- 2375-2548
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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