02453nas a2200277   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002260002100043100001400064700001600078700001400094700001700108700003200125700002000157700002100177700002000198700001900218700001400237700002400251700002300275245019200298856005400490300001400544490000700558520161000565       2006                            d  cNovember 1, 20061 aJ\ iksson1 aHelga ottir1 aAlix Cage1 aEsther ottir1 aDorthe Klitgaard-Kristensen1 aFabienne Marret1 aTeresa Rodrigues1 aFatima Abrantes1 aWilliam Austin1 aHui Jiang1 aKaren-Luise Knudsen1 aHans-Petter Sejrup00aVariability of the North Atlantic Current during the last 2000 years based on shelf bottom water and sea surface temperatures along an open ocean/shallow marine transect in western Europe  uhttp://hol.sagepub.com/content/16/7/1017.abstract  a1017-10290 v163 aMarine localities on the west European shelf have been studied to reconstruct the nearshore palaeoceanography of the last two millennia. The sites form a transect from the Iberian margin northeastward via Scotland to western Norway and Iceland. Proxies used for palaeoclimatic reconstructions include stable isotopes, benthic and planktonic foraminfera, diatoms, dinoflagellates, as well as geochemical and sedimentological parameters. Major changes as well as long-term trends in oceanographic conditions are observed in the records, including a general cooling trend through much of the last millennium. There is a clear linkage between the atmospheric processes and the oceanic circulation, and the ocean temperature variability in the records can be correlated with the so-called \textquoteleftMediaeval Warm Period\textquoteright and \textquoteleftLittle Ice Age\textquoteright. These oscillations are, however, by no means unique within the last two millennia. As an example, sea surface temperatures to the north of Iceland and on the Iberian margin were higher in the Roman Warm Period than at any time during the \textquoteleftMediaeval Warm Period\textquoteright. However, the palaeoceanographic record generally supports a distinct cooling at the transition between the \textquoteleftMediaeval Warm Period\textquoteright and the \textquoteleftLittle Ice Age\textquoteright. While a number of records indicate a warming of coastal and shelf waters during the last 200 years, the twentieth century does not appear to be unusual when the proxy records spanning the last two millennia are examined.