"A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years," by S. A. Marcott et al., Science, 339 (2013); doi: 10.1126/science.1228026

Science (8 March 2013), Vol. 339, No. 6124, pp. 1198-1201 

DOI: 10.1126/science.1228026

• REPORT

A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years

1. Shaun A. Marcott¹, 
2. Jeremy D. Shakun², 
3. Peter U. Clark¹, 
4. Alan C. Mix¹

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
2. ²Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

1. *Correspondence e-mail: marcotts@science.oregonstate.edu

• EDITOR'S SUMMARY

Surface temperature reconstructions of the past 1,500 years suggest that recent warming is unprecedented in that time. Here we provide a broader perspective by reconstructing regional and global temperature anomalies for the past 11,300 years from 73 globally distributed records. Early Holocene (10,000 to 5,000 years ago) warmth is followed by ~0.7 °C cooling through the middle to late Holocene (<5,000 years ago), culminating in the coolest temperatures of the Holocene during the Little Ice Age, about 200 years ago. This cooling is largely associated with ~2 °C change in the North Atlantic. Current global temperatures of the past decade have not yet exceeded peak interglacial values but are warmer than during ~75% of the Holocene temperature history. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change model projections for 2100 exceed the full distribution of Holocene temperature under all plausible greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6124/1198.abstract