The European glacial landscapes from the Late Holocene

Most of the European glaciers readvanced in the Late Holocene during the so-called neoglacial phases. However, these were strongly variable from one region to another. In the Alps and in Scandinavia, dating techniques and geomorphological methods have achieved a high temporal resolution for our understanding of glacier advances during the Bronze Age Cold Epoch and the Iron Age Cold Epoch, Late Antique Little Ice Age, and Little Ice Age. However, there are many European regions where glacier evolution during the Late Holocene remains puzzling. Insolation has been proposed as a major driver of glacier fluctuation during the Late Holocene, although quantitative relationships are complex to interpret. The role of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has been proposed as a potential major contributor to a long-term glacier change in the Atlantic regions superimposed onto insolation. The Greenland Ice Sheet and its mountain glaciers advanced in some sectors synchrony with European glaciers. Similar synchrony happened between North American glaciers. Himalayan glaciers also advanced, but with great variability. In the Southern Hemisphere, there were two types of glacier evolution: (1) a first major glacier advance during the onset of the Late Holocene and a second minor advance during the last millennium (Antarctic Peninsula, Tierra de Fuego, North Patagonia and Southern Alps) and (2) glaciers recorded their largest ice extent during the last millennium (Antarctic Kerguelen and South Patagonia). In the tropical Andes, glaciers readvanced during the Late Holocene in the same way as European glaciers.