Southwest Pacific Climatic Reconstructions from 20-10 kyr BP

Southern New Zealand to Indonesia transect provides climatic reconstructions for the period 20-10 thousand years before present. The dataset is supported by 125 calibrated radiocarbon ages from five sites and was published by Geoscience Australia Data. It identifies two periods of significant climatic change at around 17 and 14.2 thousand years ago.

Use Cases

• Testing hypotheses about teleconnections between the Southern and Northern Hemispheres based on the regional climatic reconstructions.
• Analyzing the timing of climatic shifts associated with the West Pacific Warm Pool and Antarctic ice collapse.
• Studying geochronological constraints and age model development for radiocarbon-dated palaeoclimate records.

Strengths

• Data is supported by 125 calibrated radiocarbon ages, providing a chronological framework.
• Covers a key transect from southern New Zealand through Australia to Indonesia.
• Identifies two specific periods of climatic change at ~17 and ~14.2 cal kyr BP.

Limitations

• 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.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Climatic reconstructions derived from palaeoclimate records, supported by radiocarbon dating.

Time Range

20,000 to 10,000 years before present (20-10 kyr BP)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:12:17.310683; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Transect from southern New Zealand, through Australia, to Indonesia (Southwest Pacific)