MULTIPROXY CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE EEMIAN AND EARLY WEICHSELIAN

Palaeobotanical, coleopteran and periglacial data from 106 sites acros s northwestern Europe have been analysed in order to reconstruct palae oclimatic conditions during the Eemian and Early Weichselian. Three ti me slices in the Eemian and four in the Early Weichselian have been co nsidered. In the Pinus-Quercetum mixtum-Corylus phase of the Eemian, s ummer temperatures were probably at their highest and the botanic evid ence suggests a southeast to northwest gradient for both the warmest a nd coldest month. Coleoptera indicate that the summers in southern Eng land were several degrees warmer than those of present day. The climat e during the Carpinus-Picea phase was uniform and oceanic without obvi ous gradients. In the final time slice of the Eemian, the Pinus-Picea- Abies phase, temperatures of the warmest month seem to drop slightly w ith some indication of a shift towards a more boreal and suboceanic cl imate. The reconstruction of the palaeoclimate in the Herning Stadial and Rederstall Stadial is hampered by the limited number of sites, but botanical evidence suggests a gradient in temperature of the coldest month from east to west. Coleoptera from the Herning Stadial in centra l England and eastern Germany suggest similarly cold and continental c limates. During the Brorup Interstadial and the Odderade Interstadial the botanical evidence suggests that the minimum mean July temperature s rose to 15-16 degrees C but during the coldest month these temperatu res show a gradient; between -13 degrees C in the east and -5 degrees C in the west. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.