Quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimate in central Japan for the past 158,000 years based on a modern analogue technique of pollen composition

Annual mean temperatures reconstructed for MIS 3 fluctuated over short periodicities that correspond to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. For example, the annual mean temperature of the interstadial GI-8 (Greenland Interstadial 8), 38-39 cal ka BP (calendar ka before 1950 CE) was about 4.0 °C, and that of the stadial HE 4 (Heinrich event 4) in 42-43 cal ka BP was about 2.6 °C. From 14 to 12 cal ka BP, annual mean temperature increased significantly in a relatively short period, from 1.3 to 9.5 °C, and annual precipitation also increased from 1040 to 1380 mm. A cool event corresponding to the Younger Dryas was identified in this deglaciation process, but its intensity was much weaker than that in the North Atlantic region. The climate in the Holocene (MIS 1) was warm, with an average annual mean temperature of 9.0 °C with wide variation, by a maximum of about 2 °C, which suggests temporal change of the Arctic polar front situated in mid-latitude regions.