Date

Invitation to Co-Author Holocene Thermal Maximum Paper
Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences (PARCS)

For further information, please contact:
Glen MacDonald
University of California Los Angeles
E-mail: macdonal [at] geog.ucla.edu

Dear Colleagues,

In 2002 a number of arctic paleoclimatological researchers got together
in Boulder, Colorado to work on a synthesis of data pertaining to the
timing and duration of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) in the Arctic.
The meeting and resulting research was supported by the NSF
Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences (PARCS) program. Since that time, a
synthesis of the HTM in the western Arctic (between 0 and 180 W) has
been published (Kauffman et al. 2004 Quaternary Science Reviews) and
proven very useful.

It is appropriate to complete this work with a methodologically similar
synthesis of the eastern Arctic (0-180 E). There remains PARCS funding
for this effort and we want to invite you to contribute as a co-author
for a synthesis aimed at Quaternary Science Reviews that will be a
linked publication to the western HTM paper. We hope this will really be
a joint effort by Circumpolar Arctic PaleoEnvironments (CAPE), PARCS,
Quaternary Environments of the Eurasian North (QUEEN), Pan-Arctic
Cycles, Transitions, and Sustainability (PACTS) researchers etc. that
transcends all our research groups and efforts.

We are seeking records that:

  1. Pertain to summer thermal conditions from Fennoscandia, Svalbard,
    Northern Russia, and western to central Siberia that come from sites at
    65 N latitude or higher. The focus will be terrestrial, but marine
    records are welcome.

  2. Records can be quantitative proxy temperatures or qualitative thermal
    indicators such as coniferous tree pollen records.

  3. Provide continuous or near-continuous records, with at least three
    radiocarbon or other dating controls (bracketing the HTM if evidence of
    an HTM is present).

  4. Extend back at least to 10,000 14C yr BP.

  5. If your record is temperature sensitive, but does not show any HTM,
    that is fine. It is important to know in which regions there was no
    strong HTM.

  6. We would like original 14C ages in addition to Cal ages if possible.

  7. We would ask for the record in digital form, the georeference for the
    site, the publication reference, and your estimates of the timing of
    initiation and termination of the HTM.

  8. If you have multiple sites in one region please do include all of
    them.

  9. Finally, we would need a paragraph or two of text describing your
    record/regional pattern.

We really want to make this as easy as possible for contributors. The
data sets will be collated and mapped by Konstantine Kremenetski at UCLA
and Matt Duval at the Data Management Office of the PARCS Program. I,
and Darrell Kauffman, will work on the text and all contributors will be
co-authors and will review the manuscript prior to submission.

Konstantine will also be obtaining published records from the
literature, however, if you want to make sure your records are included
and you want to be a co-author, please contribute directly.

We do hope you will contribute to this effort. Please send me a reply
e-mail ASAP and we will send you a pdf of the western HTM paper and
other specific information to help make your contribution easy.

Much thanks!

Glen MacDonald, University of California Los Angeles
E-mail: macdonal [at] geog.ucla.edu

Darrel Kauffman, Northern Arizona University
Konstantine Kremenetski, University of California Los Angeles
Matt Duval, Bates College