Reconstructing 16,000 years of summer temperature change in the Western Balkans

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary have reconstructed nearly 16,000 years of summer temperature variations in the Western Balkans using sediment samples from Lake Prokoško in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study, led by Enikő Magyari, explores how the region responded to rapid climate shifts at the end of the last glacial period, the Holocene era, and the impact of human activities.

Lake Prokoško, a small glacial lake at 1,670 meters elevation, accumulated sediment layers over millennia, preserving environmental and climatic history. The researchers analyzed chironomids, insect larvae whose head capsules in lake sediments serve as temperature indicators. By comparing chironomid data with modern European lake records, they estimated past summer temperatures.

The earliest layers indicate cool temperatures below 8°C at the end of the last glacial period, followed by a rapid warming of about 2.6°C, reaching up to 10.2°C around 14,600 years ago. This warming abruptly halted with the onset of the Younger Dryas, a major cooling event, causing a 2.3°C drop in mean July temperatures to around 7.9°C.

The study also shows that climate changes affected Europe differently, with the Western Balkans experiencing more pronounced cooling than Central and Eastern Europe. The research highlights the distinct impacts of climatic events across different European regions, emphasizing the complexity of climate change responses.