HOVAG - Holocene Variability in the Arctic Gateway

Our study aims at an investigation of climatic developments in the last 10,000 years in the Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean – an area presently responding rapidly to global warming. We analyze long sediment cores from the West Spitsbergen continental margin and the adjacent Yermak Plateau in centennial to decadal resolution to determine the natural variability of the Atlantic Water inflow ("Gulf Stream") to the Arctic Ocean and the position of the sea ice margin in the past.
First results indicate that water temperatures in the research area were never as high as today during the last 2000 years. However, it is possible that the Atlantic Water inflow in the middle Holocene (ca. 7,000-3,500 years ago) was of a similar intensity as today.