Proxy records of climate change in the UK over the last two millennia: documented change and sedimentary records from lakes and bogs

This project of collaborative research (project IIa of the NERC TIGGER prog ramme-Terrestrial Initiative in Global Geological Environmental Research) i nto the climatic history of the late Holocene used a variety of techniques, both tested and experimental, on carefully chosen sites in lowland and upl and environments, to derive high quality proxy-records of climatic change o ver the last 2000 years. The methodology involved the use of high-resolutio n analyses (diatoms, cladocera, chironomids, ostracods, magnetics, pollen, macrofossils, humification. lipid biomarkers and stable-isotopes) of the st ratigraphy of well-dared (AMS and conventional C-14, Pb-210, pollen, tephra , SCP spheroidal carbonaceous particles) cores from a remote montane lake a nd lowland lakes, and from a montane blanket and a lowland raised bog. link ed to historical records of climate change. This paper reviews some of the major results obtained, both in the magnitude, synchroneity and periodicity of change, especially during the Little Ice Age. and in the evaluation of the various techniques used. The fact that such techniques can be validated and calibrated against a known climatic signal in the recent past, allows for better interpretation of changes in the more distant past.