Reconstructing Holocene climate change in Denmark

Starting approximately 6,000 years ago, the introduction of agriculture in Denmark had a marked effect on the landscape as the natural virgin forest that characterized the country was cleared and replaced by farmland. Since then, continued human action has further modified the natural state of the Danish landscape and ecosystems, culminating in a culturally-modified landscape. One result of this historical human activity was a decoupling between landscape and climate in Denmark. Consequently, while it remains possible to use fossil records to reconstruct how the Danish landscape and ecosystems have changed through time, it is extremely difficult to reconstruct how the climate has changed due to the human factor. In response to this limitation, there are no long-term quantitative climate reconstructions available for Denmark. Here, an interdisciplinary approach that combines analysis of modern climate data with the development of climate transfer functions and geospatial analysis is used to quantitatively reconstruct how climate has varied through time in Denmark. The particular climate variables to be examined include July temperature and mean annual precipitation. In addition to producing the first long-term quantitative reconstructions of climate in Denmark, geospatial analysis is also used to generate the first Holocene climate maps for Denmark.