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European climate variations over the past half-millennium reconstructed from groundwater
University Institute of Radiation Physics, University Hospital Center, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
IDES Laboratoire, University of Paris Sud-XI, Orsay, France
IDES Laboratoire, University of Paris Sud-XI, Orsay, France
Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
IDES Laboratoire, University of Paris Sud-XI, Orsay, France
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Isotope Geochemistry and Mineral Resources, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Temperature reconstructions for recent centuries are the basis of estimations of the natural variability in the climate system before and during the onset of anthropogenic perturbation. Here we present, for the first time, an independent and physically based reconstruction of mean annual temperature over the past half millennium obtained from groundwater in France. The reconstructed noble gas temperature (NGT) record suggests cooler than present climate conditions throughout the 16th–19th centuries. Periods of warming occur in the 17th–18th and 20th century, while cooling is reconstructed in the 19th century. A noticeable coincidence with other temperature records is demonstrated. Deuterium excess varies in parallel with the NGT, and indicates variation in the seasonality of the aquifer recharge; whereas high excess air in groundwater indicates periods with high oscillations of the water table.
Received 22 April 2009; accepted 30 June 2009; published 4 August 2009.
Citation: (2009), European climate variations over the past half-millennium reconstructed from groundwater, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L15703, doi:10.1029/2009GL038826.
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