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    This (lowercase (translateProductType product.productType)) has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
    Peyron, Odile Combourieu-Nebout, Nathalie Brayshaw, David Goring, Simon Andrieu-Ponel, Valérie Desprat, Stéphanie Fletcher, Will Gambin, Belinda Ioakim, Chryssanthi Joannin, Sébastien Kotthoff, Ulrich Kouli, Katerina Montade, Vincent Pross, Jörg Sadori, Laura and Magny, Michel 2017. Precipitation changes in the Mediterranean basin during the Holocene from terrestrial and marine pollen records: a model–data comparison. Climate of the Past, Vol. 13, Issue. 3, p. 249.
    Berenfeld, Michelle L. Dufton, J. Andrew and Rojas, Felipe 2016. Green Petra: archaeological explorations in the city's northern wadis. Levant, Vol. 48, Issue. 1, p. 79.
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  • Print publication year: 2011
  • Online publication date: April 2011

3 - Past climates of the Middle East

from Part I - Past, present and future climate
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Summary

ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we develop an improved understanding of the Mediterranean's past climate through a series of ‘time-slice’ climate integrations relating to the past 12,000 years, performed using a version of the Met Office Hadley Centre's global climate model (HadSM3). The output is dynamically downscaled using a regional version of the same model to offer unprecedented spatial detail over the Mediterranean. Changes in seasonal surface air temperatures and precipitation are discussed at both global and regional scales along with their underlying physical drivers.

In the experiments the Mediterranean experiences more precipitation in the early Holocene than the late Holocene, although the difference is not uniform across the eastern Mediterranean. The results suggest that there may have been a relatively strong reduction in precipitation over the eastern Mediterranean coast during the period around 6–10 thousand years before present (kaBP). The early Holocene also shows a stronger seasonal cycle of temperature throughout the Northern Hemisphere but, over the northeast Mediterranean, this is mitigated by the influence of milder maritime air carried inland from the coast.

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the changes in the Mediterranean climate during the Holocene period is a challenging problem, but one that is critical to interpreting long-term change in human settlement. The region at present displays marked seasonality with dry, hot summers and cool, wet winters.

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Water, Life and Civilisation
  • Online ISBN: 9780511975219
  • Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511975219
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