Climatic change in northern Canada

Abstract

Climatic variations during the past 10 000 and 1 000 years in the Canadian Arctic are recorded in a variety of proxy-climate records. Paleoclimates of the past 1000 years are interpreted from ice cores, lake sediments, and primarily tree rings. The past 500 years, between A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1850 were relatively cool, with coolest temperatures in the 1600s and 1800s. In the 1700s temperatures were slightly warmer, but still not as warm as the latter half of the 20th Century. Warming in the 20th century is also apparent in most records. Paleoclimates of the past 10 000 years can be interpreted from ice cores, pollen diagrams, and the analysis of frequency distributions of fossils. During the past 10 000 years, the Arctic experienced maximum temperatures in the early Holocene, although there are also regional variations. Key words: Arctic, Canada, climatic change, Holocene, Little Ice Age, treeline, boreal forest, tundra.