Surface Pollen Data Addition for the Warm-temperate Zone of Japan : An Improved Paleotemperature Reconstruction for Late Quaternary Interglacials

Abstract

The current status and some problems of the Japanese surface pollen dataset are reviewed in an attempt to improve paleotemperature reconstructions for late Quaternary interglacials (MIS1, 5e and 11), which may provide analogues for present global warming. Application of modern analogue technique (MAT) to a 250m-long pollen profile from Lake Biwa provided quantified paleotemperature variations during the past 450kyr, with the limitation that the reconstructed curve saturates above 16°C annual mean temperature, resulting in low accuracy for reconstructed interglacial thermal levels. This saturation results from a lack of surface pollen in the same thermal range. In order to resolve this problem, a surface pollen data addition for the warm-temperate zone of Japan along the southwestern Pacific coast is being carried out.