Palaeoclimatic records from peat bogs

The palaeoclimatic record for the past 6000 years, implemented from peat-bog stratigraphy, has been limited by imprecision in dating and climatic interpretation. Recently, dating problems have been addressed by 'wiggle-matched' radiocarbon dates and by volcanic ash layers, promising much tighter correlation between records from different regions. Recent research shows key dates of significant climatic change and tentative evidence for periodicity. Application of time-series analysis, generalized linear modelling and transfer function models to the proxy climate data show how improved climatic reconstructions can be obtained. Peat-derived palaeoclimatic data might explain, as well as describe, climatic changes over timescales of 10(2)-10(3) years.