Palynology in a polar desert, eastern North Greenland

A pollen diagram from a lake in a polar desert in eastern North Greenland records the regional vegetation history back to c. 7,000 years calBP (6,000 years convBP) in this extreme environment, which presents the coldest thermal regime where vascular plants can grow. The diagram shows that polar desert developed from sparse high arctic tundra at c. 4,300 years calBP (3,900 years convBP), owing to reduced summer heat. Also adjacent parts of high arctic Greenland, Canada and Svalbard suffered environmental decline, and polar deserts - presently restricted to a narrow fringe of land at the shores of the Arctic Ocean - were even more restricted before this time. Like other arctic vegetation types, polar desert is highly sensitive to summer temperatures, and its southern limit coincides with the isotherm for mean July temperatures of 3.5dC. A comparison with the Northwest European ice-age pollen record shows no evidence of summers as cold as those now prevailing in the extreme north, and the results support the contention that the present Arctic and the ice-age mid-latitude environments are not identical.