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Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years

(2013) HOLOCENE. 23(8). p.1085-1094
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Abstract
A growing number of proxy, historical and instrumental data sets are now available from continental Africa through which past variations in temperature can be assessed. This paper, co-authored by members of the PAGES Africa2k Working Group, synthesises published material to produce a record of temperature variability for Africa as a whole spanning the last 2000 years. The paper focuses on temperature variability during the Medieval Climate Anomaly' (MCA), Little Ice Age' (LIA) and late 19th-early 21st centuries. Warmer conditions during the MCA are evident in records from Lake Tanganyika in central Africa, the Ethiopian Highlands in northeastern Africa, and Cango Cave, the Kuiseb River and Wonderkrater in southern Africa. Other records covering the MCA give ambiguous signals. Warming appears to have been greater during the early MCA (c. ad 1000) in parts of southern Africa and during the later MCA (from ad 1100) in Namibia, Ethiopia and at Lake Tanganyika. LIA cooling is evident in Ethiopian and southern African pollen records and in organic biomarker data from Lake Malawi in southeastern tropical Africa, while at Lake Tanganyika the temperature depression appears to have been less consistent. A warming trend in mean annual temperatures is clearly evident from historical and instrumental data covering the late 19th to early 21st centuries. General warming has occurred over Africa since the 1880s punctuated only by a period of cooling in the mid 20th century. The rate of temperature increase appears to have accelerated towards the end of the 20th century. The few long high-resolution proxy records that extend into the late 20th century indicate that average annual temperatures were 1-2 degrees C higher in the last few decades than during the MCA.
Keywords
ICE-CORE, PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, EAST-AFRICA, SOUTH-AFRICA, DAILY CLIMATE EXTREMES, CRENARCHAEOTAL MEMBRANE-LIPIDS, 20th century, temperature variability, "Medieval Climate Anomaly', Africa, "Little Ice Age', TEX86 PALEOTHERMOMETER, TETRAETHER LIPIDS, GLACIAL MAXIMUM, LAKE TANGANYIKA

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Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
Nicholson, Sharon E., et al. “Temperature Variability over Africa during the Last 2000 Years.” HOLOCENE, vol. 23, no. 8, 2013, pp. 1085–94, doi:10.1177/0959683613483618.
APA
Nicholson, S. E., Nash, D. J., Chase, B. M., Grab, S. W., Shanahan, T. M., Verschuren, D., … Umer, M. (2013). Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years. HOLOCENE, 23(8), 1085–1094. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683613483618
Chicago author-date
Nicholson, Sharon E, David J Nash, Brian M Chase, Stefan W Grab, Timothy M Shanahan, Dirk Verschuren, Asfawossen Asrat, Anne-Marie Lézine, and Mohammed Umer. 2013. “Temperature Variability over Africa during the Last 2000 Years.” HOLOCENE 23 (8): 1085–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683613483618.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Nicholson, Sharon E, David J Nash, Brian M Chase, Stefan W Grab, Timothy M Shanahan, Dirk Verschuren, Asfawossen Asrat, Anne-Marie Lézine, and Mohammed Umer. 2013. “Temperature Variability over Africa during the Last 2000 Years.” HOLOCENE 23 (8): 1085–1094. doi:10.1177/0959683613483618.
Vancouver
1.
Nicholson SE, Nash DJ, Chase BM, Grab SW, Shanahan TM, Verschuren D, et al. Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years. HOLOCENE. 2013;23(8):1085–94.
IEEE
[1]
S. E. Nicholson et al., “Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years,” HOLOCENE, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1085–1094, 2013.
@article{4253321,
  abstract     = {{A growing number of proxy, historical and instrumental data sets are now available from continental Africa through which past variations in temperature can be assessed. This paper, co-authored by members of the PAGES Africa2k Working Group, synthesises published material to produce a record of temperature variability for Africa as a whole spanning the last 2000 years. The paper focuses on temperature variability during the Medieval Climate Anomaly' (MCA), Little Ice Age' (LIA) and late 19th-early 21st centuries. Warmer conditions during the MCA are evident in records from Lake Tanganyika in central Africa, the Ethiopian Highlands in northeastern Africa, and Cango Cave, the Kuiseb River and Wonderkrater in southern Africa. Other records covering the MCA give ambiguous signals. Warming appears to have been greater during the early MCA (c. ad 1000) in parts of southern Africa and during the later MCA (from ad 1100) in Namibia, Ethiopia and at Lake Tanganyika. LIA cooling is evident in Ethiopian and southern African pollen records and in organic biomarker data from Lake Malawi in southeastern tropical Africa, while at Lake Tanganyika the temperature depression appears to have been less consistent. A warming trend in mean annual temperatures is clearly evident from historical and instrumental data covering the late 19th to early 21st centuries. General warming has occurred over Africa since the 1880s punctuated only by a period of cooling in the mid 20th century. The rate of temperature increase appears to have accelerated towards the end of the 20th century. The few long high-resolution proxy records that extend into the late 20th century indicate that average annual temperatures were 1-2 degrees C higher in the last few decades than during the MCA.}},
  author       = {{Nicholson, Sharon E and Nash, David J and Chase, Brian M and Grab, Stefan W and Shanahan, Timothy M and Verschuren, Dirk and Asrat, Asfawossen and Lézine, Anne-Marie and Umer, Mohammed}},
  issn         = {{0959-6836}},
  journal      = {{HOLOCENE}},
  keywords     = {{ICE-CORE,PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION,EAST-AFRICA,SOUTH-AFRICA,DAILY CLIMATE EXTREMES,CRENARCHAEOTAL MEMBRANE-LIPIDS,20th century,temperature variability,"Medieval Climate Anomaly',Africa,"Little Ice Age',TEX86 PALEOTHERMOMETER,TETRAETHER LIPIDS,GLACIAL MAXIMUM,LAKE TANGANYIKA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1085--1094}},
  title        = {{Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1177/0959683613483618}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}

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