Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland 6000 Year Lake Alkenone Data D'Andrea, W.J.; Huang, Y.; Fritz, S.C.; Anderson, N.J. D'Andrea, W.J. Huang, Y. Fritz, S.C. Anderson, N.J. abrupt climate change earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (alkenone unsaturation index Uk37 prime,null,null,dimensionless,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (age,null,null,calendar year before present,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (Lake E>LATITUDE 67>LONGITUDE -50.7) (Braya So Lake>LATITUDE 67>LONGITUDE -50.7) West Greenland has had multiple episodes of human colonization and cultural transitions over the past 4,500 y. However, the explanations for these large-scale human migrations are varied, including climatic factors, resistance to adaptation, economic marginalization, mercantile exploration, and hostile neighborhood interactions. Evaluating the potential role of climate change is complicated by the lack of quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions near settlement areas and by the relative stability of Holocene temperature derived from ice cores atop the Greenland ice sheet. Here we present high-resolution records of temperature over the past 5,600 y based on alkenone unsaturation in sediments of two lakes in West Greenland. We find that major temperature changes in the past 4,500 y occurred abruptly (within decades), and were coeval in timing with the archaeological records of settlement and abandonment of the Saqqaq, Dorset, and Norse cultures, which suggests that abrupt temperature changes profoundly impacted human civilization in the region. Temperature variations in West Greenland display an antiphased relationship to temperature changes in Ireland over centennial to millennial timescales, resembling the interannual to multidecadal temperature seesaw associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. STUDY NOTES: Alkenone unsaturation measurements from Holocene sediment cores of two lakes in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland (Braya So and Lake E) and a stacked record derived by averaging the overlapping sections of the two records (Kanger Stack). The age model was developed by aligning the independently radiocarbon dated UK37 records from Braya So and Lake E within the 2 sigma error of their respective chronological uncertainties prior to 20-yr resampling utilized in the Kanger Stack. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : D'Andrea, W.J. Investigator : Huang, Y. Investigator : Fritz, S.C. Investigator : Anderson, N.J. 2011-05-31 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/11176 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.xls https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.xls https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/11176 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.xls https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/greenland/kangerlussuaq2011.txt William J. D’Andrea, Yongsong Huang, Sherilyn C. Fritz and N. John Anderson2011Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West GreenlandProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences108249765-976910.1073/pnas.1101708108http://www.pnas.org/content/108/24/9765 START YEAR: 6119 cal yr BP * END YEAR: -55 cal yr BP -50.7 67 -50.7 67