In this paper, we compare new and published Atlantic sedimentary Pa/Th data with Pa/Th simulated using stream functions generated under various climatic conditions. We show that during Greenland interstadials of the 20–50 ka period, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation was very different from that of the Holocene. Moreover, southern-sourced waters dominated the Atlantic during Heinrich stadial 2, a slow northern-sourced water mass flowing above 2500 m in the North Atlantic.

In this paper, we challenge the usefulness of temperature effect and amount effect, the basic assumptions in past climate reconstruction using a stable water isotope proxy, in East Asia on multiple timescales. By modeling several time slices in the past 22 000 years using an isotope-enabled general circulation model, we suggest great caution when interpreting δ¹⁸O records in this area as indicators of surface temperature and/or local monsoonal precipitation, especially on a millennial timescale.

The detailed and continuous meteorological observations of Jens Esmark from the capital of Norway in the period 1816 to 1838 are evaluated, homogenized and reanalysed with modern methods to characterize the weather in Oslo in this period.

Throughout the last millennium, several cold periods occurred which affected humanity. Here, we investigate an exceptionally cold decade during the 15th century. The cold conditions challenged the food production and led to increasing food prices and a famine in parts of Europe. In contrast to periods such as the “Year Without Summer” after the eruption of Tambora, these extreme climatic conditions seem to have occurred by chance and in relation to the internal variability of the climate system.

This study investigates the NAO (Northern Atlantic Oscillation)-related mechanisms that control winter precipitation stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope gradients across Europe. The results show that past longitudinal stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope gradients in European rainfall stored in palaeoclimate archives (e.g. speleothems) can be used to infer the past winter NAO modes from its variations.