Das Projekt "TIMECHS: Zeitlicher Verlauf und Mechanismen holozaener Klimaaenderungen in NW-Europa auf der Grundlage von stabilen Isotopen, Pollen und Makrofossilien aus Binnenseeumfeldern" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bern, Physikalisches Institut, Abteilung für Klima- und Umweltphysik durchgeführt. The project combines the palynological and faunal-assemblage approach with detailed geochemical investigations of calcareous lake sediments and ostracod shell contained therein, to establish a well-dated high-resolution Holocene climate record for western-most Europe. The cores are from a small deep lake, An Loch Mor, Inis O;rr (Inisheer), off the west coast of Ireland (OS grid ref. L 990 020; 9 Grad 30.2'W, 53 Grad 03.4'N). Objectives: (i) To reconstruct, at a fine temporal scale, the paleoclimatic record for the Holocene in a high resolution core from An Loch Mor, Inis Orr. The emphasis will be on establishing high-resolution records to identify periods of rapid climate change (precipitations, temperature, Atlantic storminess, etc.), and on quantifying rates of change. (ii) To reconstruct the role of human activity in bringing about change in both the lake and its catchment. Apart from the intrinsic interest in the reconstructing the timing and factors that have resulted in the present-day treeless karstic landscape, this information is critical to differentiate between chamges brougth about by climate as against those of anthropogenic origin. (iii) To evaluate the role of oceanic thermal inertia in controlling the amplitude and rate of climate fluctuations in the Holocene. This will be achieved by comparing our new high-resolution record with other well-dated records from similar latitudes in western and central Europe. (iv) To test whether climate change events recorded in cores from terrestrial situations in western Europe are synchronous with the atmosphere-driven events recorded in the Holocene parts of the Greenland ice cores, the changing temperature regimes in the North Atlantic and also patterns in North Atlantic Deep Water formation. Prime Contractor: National University of Ireland, Galway, Department of Botany Paleoenvironmental Research Unit; Galway.