125 calibrated radiocarbon ages support climatic reconstructions from five sites across the Southwest Pacific for the period 20,000 to 10,000 years before present. The dataset identifies two periods of significant climatic change at around 17,000 and 14,200 calibrated years BP, likely linked to warming in the West Pacific Warm Pool and Antarctic ice collapse. The Australian Ocean Data Network hosts this record, which highlights the urgent need to address geochronological limitations for more precise climate estimates.
Use Cases
- Test hypotheses about teleconnections between Northern and Southern Hemisphere climate events based on multi-site reconstructions.
- Analyze the timing and impact of climatic shifts associated with Meltwater Pulse-1A using the identified 14.2 kyr BP event.
- Study regional climatic variability across a transect from southern New Zealand to Indonesia during the deglaciation period.
Strengths
- Reconstructions are supported by 125 calibrated radiocarbon ages, providing a chronological framework.
- Data covers a key 10,000-year period (20-10 kyr BP) during the Last Termination.
- Spatial coverage includes five sites along a transect across the Southwest Pacific region.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- The description notes severe geochronological constraints and a lack of quantified climatic parameters.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Climatic reconstructions derived from palaeoclimatic records, supported by radiocarbon dating.
- Time Range
- 20,000 to 10,000 years before present (20-10 kyr BP)
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-04 07:50:46.357704; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Southwest Pacific, along a transect from southern New Zealand, through Australia to Indonesia.