The Holocene temperature conundrum

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1407229111
• Publication Date: 2014-08-12T06:59:19Z
• Authors: Zhengyu Liu; Jiang Zhu; Yair Rosenthal; Xu Zhang; Bette L. Otto-Bli...; Axel Timmermann; Robin S. Smith; Gerrit Lohmann; Weipeng Zheng; Oliver Elison Timm
• Keywords: Global temperature; Proxy (statistics); Paleoclimatology; Global cooling

Significance Marine and terrestrial proxy records suggest global cooling during the Late Holocene, following peak warming of Holocene Thermal Maximum (∼10 to 6 ka) until rapid induced by increasing anthropogenic greenhouses gases. However, physical mechanism responsible for this has remained elusive. Here, we show that climate models simulate a robust annual mean in mainly response rising CO 2 retreat ice sheets. This model-data inconsistency demands critical reexamination both data models.