Sediment cores were collected from a lake that captures runoff from two glaciers in Greenland. Our analysis of the sediments shows that these glaciers were active over the last 9,000 years and advanced and retreated in response to regional climate changes. The data also provide a long-term perspective on the rate of 20th century glacier retreat and indicate that recent anthropogenic-driven warming has already impacted the regional cryosphere in a manner outside the range of natural variability.

Radiolarian taxa with high-latitude affinities are present from at least the middle Eocene in the SW Pacific and become very abundant in the late Eocene at all investigated sites. A short incursion of low-latitude taxa is observed during the MECO and late Eocene warming event at Site 277. Radiolarian abundance, diversity and taxa with high-latitude affinities increase at Site 277 in two steps in the latest Eocene due to climatic cooling and expansion of cold water masses.

Using a combination of speleothem records and model simulations of the East Asian Monsoon over the penultimate glacial cycle, we search for early warning signals of past tipping points. We detect a characteristic slower response to perturbations prior to an abrupt monsoon shift at the glacial termination; however, we do not detect these signals in the preceding shifts. Our results have important implications for detecting tipping points in palaeoclimate records outside glacial terminations.

Coccolithophore distribution in 88 surface sediment samples in the Atlantic Ocean and western Mediterranean was mainly influenced by salinity at 10m depth. A quantitative coccolithophore-based transfer function was developed and applied to a fossil sediment core to estimate sea surface salinity (SSS). The quality of this function and the reliability of the SSS reconstruction were assessed by statistical analyses and discussed. Several centennial SSS changes are identified for the last 15.5 ka.

An abrupt increase in seasonal precipitation during the PETM in the Pyrenean Gulf has been proposed, based on the occurrence of extensive fine-grained siliciclastic deposits. This paper provides evidence that coarse-grained siliciclastics were also delivered, indicative of episodes of intense rainy intervals in an otherwise semiarid PETM climate. Further, evidence is presented that PETM kaolinites were most likely resedimented from Cretaceous lateritic profiles developed in the basement.

A comparison of model simulations and reconstructions at the continental scale over the past millennium indicates that models are in relatively good agreement with temperature reconstructions for Northern Hemisphere regions, particularly in the Arctic. This is likely due to the relatively large amplitude of the externally forced response across northern and high-latitudes regions. Conversely, models disagree strongly with the reconstructions in the Southern Hemisphere.

We simulated Late Miocene (11-7 Million years ago) vegetation using two plausible CO2 concentrations: 280ppm CO2 and 450ppm CO2. We compared the simulated vegetation to existing plant fossil data for the whole Northern Hemisphere. Our results suggest that during the Late Miocene the CO2 levels have been relatively low, or that other factors that are not included in the models maintained the seasonal temperate forests and open vegetation.

Climate indices of the past are often reconstructed using proxy information from various locations and it is assumed that the relationship between the two does not change over time. As this assumption has been recently questioned, we use a climate model to examine the effect of these changing relationships on the skill of El Nino-Southern Oscillation variance reconstructions. Our study finds that these changes reduce reconstruction skill, while also showing how this impact can be mitigated.

The impact of Neo-Tethys closure on early Cenozoic warming has been tested. First, the volume of subducted sediments and the amount of CO2 emitted along the northern Tethys margin has been calculated. Second, corresponding pCO2 have been tested using the GEOCLIM model. Despite high CO2 production, maximum pCO2 values (750ppm) do not reach values inferred from proxies. Other cited sources of excess CO2 such as the NAIP are also below fluxes required by GEOCLIM to fit with proxy data.

High-resolution pollen analyses undertaken on two cores from southern France allow us to separate anthropogenic effects from climatic impacts on environments over the last 4500 years. A long-term aridification trend is highlighted during the late Holocene, and three superimposed arid events are recorded around 4400, 2600 and 1200cal BP coinciding in time with Bond events. Human influence on vegetation is attested since the Bronze Age and became dominant at the beginning of the High Middle Ages.

The Levant is a key area to study palaeoclimatic responses over G-IG cycles. A precisely dated MIS 5 stalagmite (129–84ka) from Kanaan Cave, Lebanon, with growth rate and isotopic records variations indicate a warm humid phase at the last interglacial (~129-125ka). A shift in δ18O values (125-122ka) is driven by the source effect of the eastern Med. during sapropel 5 (S5). Low growth rates and high δ18O-δ13C values (~122-84ka) mark the onset of glacial inception and transition to drier phase.

We find that the specific equilibrium climate sensitivity due to radiative forcing of CO2 and land ice albedo has been state-dependent for the last 2.1Myr (most of the Pleistocene). Its value is ~45% larger during intermediate glaciated climates and interglacial periods than during Pleistocene full glacial conditions. The state dependency is mainly caused by a latitudinal dependency in ice sheet area changes. Due to uncertainties in CO2, firm conclusions for the Pliocene are not yet possible.