The influence and chronological uncertainties of the 8.2 ka cooling event on continental climate records in China

A compilation of early-Holocene terrestrial records from lacustrine sediments, ice cores, peat bog, palaeosols, stalagmites and flood sediments from China indicates that the early-Holocene climate was unstable and characterized by at least one centennial-scale (500-200 years) cooling event between 9.0 and 7.6 ka BP. The cold period recorded in different settings has been previously linked to the 8.2 ka event suggested by δ¹⁸O_icc from Greenland ice cores, but the differences in time duration and regional climate conditions have been attrib-uted to monsoon systems, inadequate age control and sampling resolution, and complex topography in China. However, our compilation indicates that it is premature to attribute the cold periods recorded at different locations in China simply to the 8.2 ka event, let alone to attribute the cause of those anomalies to a freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation. Whether there was one synchronous event or not in China, where the climate is mainly affected by the monsoons and the westerlies, is open to discussion, because most of the records lack sufficient dating control to define clearly the nature of the cooling event. If a cooling event did occur, more evidence is required in multiple dimensions to characterize the time duration, magnitude and cause of the event, so much work remains to be done.