Reconstructing large-scale climate patterns from sparse local records is crucial for understanding past climates. Yet, it remains challenging to derive those reconstructions due to the patchiness, uneven spatial distribution, and disparate nature of palaeoclimatic proxy records. In this study, Eichenseer and Jones developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to integrate ecological data with established geochemical proxies into a unified quantitative framework, which bridges the gap in the latitudinal coverage of proxy data. They showed that this framework has the potential to enhance quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstructions especially the latitudinal temperature gradient estimated from datasets with limited spatial sampling.

The paper submitted by Meister and colleagues presents the first comprehensive compilation and assessment of diatom oxygen isotope records in lake sediments (δ18OBSi). The authors have supplemented these data with additional lake basin parameters (such as catchment size and residence times). The manuscript first infers the spatial and temporal coverage of δ18OBSi records and then discusses common hemispheric trends on centennial and millennial time scales, with key results such as: - Common patterns for hydrologically open lakes in extra-tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. - Common trends during the Common Era and throughout the Holocene corresponding to known climatic epochs such as the Holocene Thermal Maximum, Neoglacial cooling, the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. This is a well-written manuscript that should make a valuable contribution to reconstructions of past climates.