The paper analyses extreme droughts of the pre-instrumental period (1501–1803) over the territory of the recent Czech Republic. In total, 16 droughts were selected for spring, summer and autumn each and 14 droughts for summer half-year (Apr–Sep). They are characterized by very low values of drought indices, high temperatures, low precipitation and by the influence of high-pressure situations. Selected extreme droughts are described in more detail. Effect of droughts on grain prices are studied.

Compositing climate proxies in sediment from seven Iceland lakes documents abrupt summer cooling between 4.5 and 4.0 ka, statistically indistinguishable from 4.2 ka. Although the decline in summer insolation was an important factor, a combination of superposed changes in ocean circulation and explosive Icelandic volcanism were likely responsible for the abrupt perturbation recorded by our proxies. Lake and catchment proxies recovered to a colder equilibrium state following the perturbation.

Climate changes occur today as they occurred in the past. This study deals with climate changes reconstructed at Lake Ohrid (Albania and FYROM) between 160 000 and 70 000 years ago. Climate reconstruction, based on a high-resolution pollen study, provides quantitative estimates of past temperature and precipitation. Our data show an alternation of cold/dry and warm/wet periods. The last interglacial appears to be characterized by temperatures higher than nowadays.

A foraminifer oxygen isotope record from the northeastern Arabian Sea was used to reconstruct winter and summer monsoon strength from 5.4 to 3.0 ka. We found a 200-year period of strengthened winter monsoon (4.5–4.3 ka) that coincides with the earliest phase of the Mature Harappan period of the Indus Civilization, followed by weakened winter and summer monsoons by 4.1 ka. Aridity spanning both rainfall seasons at 4.1 ka may help to explain some of the observed archaeological shifts.

Marine organic carbon burial could link the 405 thousand year eccentricity cycle in the long-term carbon cycle to that observed in climate records. Here, we simulate the response of the carbon cycle to astronomical forcing. We find a strong 2.4 million year cycle in the model output, which is present as an amplitude modulator of the 405 and 100 thousand year eccentricity cycles in a newly assembled composite record.

We explore the hypothesis that a shift in global climate 4200 years ago (the 4.2 ka event) was related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We summarize records of coral reef development in the tropical eastern Pacific, where intensification of ENSO stalled reef growth for 2500 years starting around 4.2 ka. Because corals are highly sensitive to climatic changes, like ENSO, we suggest that records from coral reefs may provide important clues about the role of ENSO in the 4.2 ka event.

The LGP is a period punctuated by the presence of several abrupt climate events and sea-level variations of up to 20 m at millennial timescales. The origin of those fluctuations is attributed to NH paleo ice sheets, but a contribution from the AIS cannot be excluded. Here, for the first time, we investigate the response of the AIS to millennial climate variability using an ice sheet–shelf model. We shows that the AIS produces substantial sea-level rises and grounding line migrations.

To understand the natural variability in the climate system, the hydrological aspect (dry and wet conditions) is particularly important for its impact on our societies. The reconstruction of past precipitation regimes can provide a useful tool for forecasting future climate changes. We use multi-proxy time series (oxygen and carbon isotopes, trace elements) from a speleothem to investigate circulation pattern variations and seasonality effects during the dry 4.2 ka event in central Italy.

Heinrich events are among the dominant modes of glacial climate variability. They are caused by massive ice discharges from the Laurentide Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic. In previous studies, the climate changes were either seen as resulting from freshwater released from the melt of the discharged icebergs or by ice sheet elevation changes. With a coupled ice sheet–climate model, we show that both effects are relevant with the freshwater effects preceding the ice sheet elevation effects.

The stable isotopic composition of water (δ¹⁸O) preserved in terrestrial sediments has been used to reconstruct surface elevations. The method is based on the observed decrease in δ¹⁸O with elevation, attributed to rainout during air mass ascent. We use a climate model to test the δ¹⁸O–elevation relationship during Tibetan–Himalayan uplift. We show that δ¹⁸O is a poor indicator of past elevation over most of the region, as processes other than rainout are important when elevations are lower.

Using two climate models, we seek to better understand changes in Antarctic climate and Southern Ocean conditions during the last deglaciation. We highlight the importance of sea ice and ice topography changes for Antarctic surface temperatures and snow accumulation as well as the sensitivity of Southern Ocean temperatures to meltwater fluxes. The results demonstrate that climate model simulations of the deglaciation could be greatly improved by considering ice–ocean interactions and feedbacks.

Mercury anomalies in sedimentary rocks are used to assess whether there were periods of elevated volcanism in the geological record. We focus on five sites that cover the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, an extreme global warming event that occurred 55.8 million years ago. We find that sites close to the eruptions from the North Atlantic Igneous Province display significant mercury anomalies across this time interval, suggesting that magmatism played a role in the global warming event.

A major environmental change, 4200 years ago, was recorded in the lacustrine sediments of Lake Petit (Mediterranean Alps). The regime shift was described by a modification in erosion processes in the watershed and aquatic species in the lake. This study, based on the analysis of the lake water balance by using oxygen isotopes in diatoms, revealed that these environmental responses were due to a rapid change in precipitation regime, lasting ca. 500 years.

China’s historical typhoon data show that (1) the tracks of typhoons correspond to the north–southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, which show a nearly 30-year and a 60-year cycle during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and (2) paleotyphoons made landfall in mainland China 1 month earlier during the Medieval Warm Period than during the LIA.

This paper addresses two important issues with the EC-Earth Pliocene simulation, including the following: (1) quantification of albedo and insulation effects of Arctic sea ice on interface heat exchange and (2) an explanation as to why Arctic amplification in surface air temperature (SST) peaks in winter while there is maximum SST warming in summer. These issues provide potential implications for researching Arctic amplification and climate change.

Our understanding of future climate changes increases if different sources of information agree on past climate variations. Changing climates particularly impact local scales for which future changes in precipitation are highly uncertain. Here, we use information from observations, model simulations, and climate reconstructions for regional precipitation over the British Isles. We find these do not agree well on precipitation variations over the past few centuries.

A simple but powerful method for the biomisation of plant functional type distributions is introduced and tested for six different dynamic global vegetation models based on pre-industrial and palaeo-simulations. The method facilitates the direct comparison between vegetation distributions simulated by different Earth system models and between model results and the pollen-based biome reconstructions. It is therefore a powerful tool for the evaluation of Earth system models.

The lack of integration of data into a scientifically credible, globally assembled, information platform with consistent terminology and definitions hinders our understanding of the 4.2 ka BP Event. Using such an information platform, we show the presence of a strong and coherent signal for the 4.2 ka BP Event in northeastern China. Our prototype database approach, guided by semantic analysis and georeferencing, can serve as a guide to the assembly of a larger-scale global 4.2 ka database.

The climate response of the Earth to orbital forcing shows a distinct hemispheric asymmetry, and one of the reasons can be ascribed to the unequal distribution of land in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. We show that a land asymmetry effect (LAE) exists, and that it can be quantified. By using a GCM with a unique geographic setup, we illustrate that there are far-field influences of global geography that moderate or accentuate the Earth's response to orbital forcing.