ASYNCHRONOUS CLIMATE CHANGES BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE NORTH ATLANTIC DURING THE LAST DEGLACIATION: FULL DESCRIPTION

In the oral symposium we present the results of our high-resolution pollen analytical study of the annually-laminated lacustrine sediments of Lake Suigetsu, Japan, and attempt to provide some explanations of the observed asynchrony in deglacial climate changes between the North Atlantic and Japan. In the limited time allowed for the presentation, however, we can only outline the pollen-based climate reconstruction method employed, and are able to present selected results only. Here we present a fuller description of the method, and illustrate the results of reconstructions attempted for additional climatic parameters. The methodological problems involved will be expanded in open discussion.

The poster displays the following information:

1) The principles of the best-modern-analogues technique,

2) The principles of error estimation using Montecarlo simulation,

3) The comprehensiveness of the pollen and climate databases used for climate reconstruction,

4) The distribution of the modern vegetation and climates of Japan

5) Topography of the Lake Suigetsu area, with some landscape photos,

6) Photograph of the Lake Suigetsu core section,

7) Full pollen diagrams from Lake Suigetsu and Lake Mikata (adjacent to Lake Suigetsu),

8) Possible periodicity in the pollen curves,

9) Reconstructed curves of (i) Temperature of the warmest month, (ii) Temperature of the coldest month, (iii) Seasonal temperature variability, (iv) Warm Index (Cumulative monthly temperature above 5 °C), (v) Cold Index (Cumulative monthly temperature below 5 °C), (vi) Mean annual temperature, and (vii) Annual precipitation.

10) Chronology-based correlations with other regions,

11) Comparison of varve and 14C age distributions for Lake Suigetsu and Cariaco Basin.