In this special issue we present a comprehensive review of previously published and new data sets from a variety of paleoclimate archives across southern South America (south of ca. 15°S). The underlying collaborative research initiative started in 2006 under the umbrella of IGBP-PAGES Focus 2 “Regional Climate Dynamics” and aimed to (i) collate the large number of disperse paleoclimate data sets from various proxies for the last ca. 1000 years, and (ii) produce a spatially explicit, highly resolved, multi-proxy climate reconstruction for southern South America.
The review and research articles in this special issue cover a variety of archives (historical documents, tree rings, ice cores, glacier fluctuations and lacustrine sediments) and suggest that, at least south of ca. 18°S, the spatial and temporal coverage of the data is adequate to develop synoptic multi-proxy reconstructions for the past ca. 400 years. Although additional high-quality proxy records are still needed to resolve the finer temporal and spatial structure of past climate variations, the currently available data do provide a consistent picture of climate fluctuations at a large scale.
We have identified two major directions for future research: (i) a dedicated effort to build a comprehensive, quality-tested, and homogenized set of climate data during the (early) instrumental period in order to calibrate proxy data series, to test and extend reanalysis data sets, and to explore the multi-decadal variability of synoptic-scale atmospheric features, and (ii) expansion of the database of robust well-calibrated paleoclimate data series of adequate quality, temporal resolution and spatial representation; currently, this is the bottleneck for further improvements of the reconstructions. Existing older data sets should be updated to include the most recent years. While well-calibrated tree-ring archives and documentary data have restrictions in terms of spatial coverage and/or the length of the data series, calibration and quantification of proxy series from ice cores, glacier fluctuations, lake sediments and vegetation records are of utmost concern and require greatest attention.