A mid-Holocene thermal maximum at the end of the African Humid Period

The termination of the African Humid Period (AHP) about 5 thousand years ago (ka) was the most dramatic climate shift in northern and equatorial Africa since the end of the Pleistocene. Based on TEX86 paleotemperature data from Lake Turkana, Kenya, we show that a temperature shift of 2–4 °C occurred over the two millennia spanning the end of the AHP, with the warmest conditions occurring at ∼5 ka. We note a similar shift, though of a smaller magnitude, in other East African temperature records from Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, as well as Mt. Kilimanjaro. Additionally, we document the temperature history for the last 220 years from Lake Turkana that indicates the thermal anomaly at 5 ka was warmer than the present day Lake Turkana temperatures and on par with modern temperatures of Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi. We suggest that the thermal response at the end of the AHP may be linked to local insolation during September–November, when local air temperature rises to an annual maximum over Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika and a secondary maximum over Lake Turkana and Mt. Kilimanjaro. September–November insolation peaked at ∼5 ka and likely caused air and water temperatures in the region to rise to maxima at that time.

► We reconstructed Holocene TEX86 paleotemperatures from Lake Turkana sediments.
► Lake Turkana waters show a 2–4 °C warming centered at ∼5 ka.
► Temperature excursion corresponds to the end of the African Humid Period.
► Similar warming in East Africa from Lakes Malawi, Tanganyika and Mt. Kilimanjaro.
► Thermal response is linked to September–October–November insolation.