Thirty-six borehole temperature–depth profiles were analysed to reconstruct the ground surface temperature history (GSTH) of eastern Tasmania for the past 5 centuries. Temperature changes were greatest around the north-east coast and decreased towards midland Tasmania. Average GSTH reconstructed from Tasmanian boreholes shows temperature increases of about 1.2 ± 0.2 °C during the past 5 centuries.

Planktonic foraminifera – the most important proxy carriers in palaeoceanography – adjust their seasonal and vertical habitat. They are thought to do so in a way that minimises the change in their environment, implying that proxy records based on these organisms may not capture the full amplitude of past climate change. Here we demonstrate that they indeed track a particular thermal habitat and suggest that this could lead to a 40 % underestimation of reconstructed temperature change.

We studied late Quaternary permafrost at the Oyogos Yar coast (Dmitry Laptev Strait) to reconstruct palaeoclimate and palaeonvironmental conditions in the Northeast Siberian Arctic. Our ice-wedge stable isotope record, combined with data from Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island, indicates coldest winter temperatures during MIS5 and MIS2, warmest conditions during the Holocene, i.e. today, and non-stable winter climate during MIS3. New IRSL ages reveal high climate variability during MIS5.

Knowledge of the past fire activity is a key for making sustainable management policies for forest ecosystems. A high-resolution macroscopic charcoal record from southwestern China reveals the postglacial fire history. Combined with the regional climate records and vegetation histories, it is concluded that fire was mainly controlled by climate before 4.3 ka and by combined action of climate and humans after 4.3 ka, and the relationship between fire activity and vegetation were also examined.

This contribution aims at assessing to what extent the analogue method, a classic technique used in other branches of meteorology and climatology, can be used to perform gridded reconstructions of annual temperature based on the limited information from available but un-calibrated proxies spread across different locations of the world. We conclude that it is indeed possible, albeit with certain limitations that render the method comparable to more classic techniques.

Our study demonstrates that a source to sink analysis in the Gouritz catchment can be used to obtain valuable paleoclimatic information form the year-round rainfall zone. In combination with SST reconstructions these data are a valuable contribution to the discussion of Southern Hemisphere palaeoenvironments and climate variability (in particular atmosphere–ocean circulation and hydroclimate change) in the South African Holocene.

Little is known about the climate of southern Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation owing to sparse records for this region. We present the first high-resolution data, derived from speleothems that grew 23–5 ka. It appears that recharge to the Flinders Ranges was higher than today, particularly during 18.9–15.8 ka, argued to be due to the enhanced availability of tropical moisture. An abrupt shift to aridity is recorded at 15.8 ka, associated with restored westerly airflow.

We present a new detailed pollen and isotope record from Lake Van (Turkey) spanning the period from 250 to 128 ka. In contrast to SW Europe, all three terrestrial warm intervals at Lake Van are characterized by clear interglacial conditions. The largest forest expansion occurred during MIS 7c instead of MIS 7e. Our record also reveals high oscillations between 193 and 157 ka followed by low variations (157 to 131 ka) that highlighted Dansgaard–Oeschger-like events during the penultimate glacial.

The past flood activity was investigated using a sedimentological and geochemical analysis of surfaces sediments from a southeastern Tunisian catchment in order to trace the origin of sediments deposit in the El Bibane Lagoon. Aeolian, fluvial and marine source. This multi-proxy analysis on the BL12-10 core shows that finer material, a high content of clay and silt, and a high content of the elemental ratios Fe / Ca and Ti / Ca characterise the sedimentological signature of palaeo-flood levels.

The last glacial period was punctuated by abrupt climatic variations, whose cold atmospheric phases have been commonly associated with cold sea-surface temperatures and expansion of sea ice in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas. Here we provide direct evidence of a regional paradoxical see-saw pattern: cold Greenland and North Atlantic phases coincide with warmer sea-surface conditions and shorter seasonal sea-ice cover durations in the Norwegian Sea as compared to warm phases.