Reference
Mauquoy, D., Engelkes, T., Groot, M.H.M., Markesteijn, F., Oudejans, M.G., van der Plicht, J. and van Geel, B. 2002. High-resolution records of late-Holocene climate change and carbon accumulation in two north-west European ombrotrophic peat bogs. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186: 275-310.
What was done
Three cores from a raised peat bog in the UK (Walton Moss) and a single core from a similar bog in Denmark (Lille Vildmose) were carefully analyzed for macro- and micro-fossils (pollen), bulk density, loss on ignition, carbon/nitrogen ratios and humification, while being 14C dated by accelerator mass spectrometry.
What was learned
Among a great variety of other things, it was determined, in the words of the authors, that "the lowest carbon accumulation values for the Walton Moss monoliths between ca. cal AD 1300 and 1800 and between ca. cal AD 1490 and 1580 for Lille Vildmose occurred during the course of Little Ice Age deteriorations," which finding they describe as being much the same as the observation "made by Oldfield et al. (1997) for a Swedish 'aapa' mire between ca. cal AD 1400 and 1800." They also report that "carbon accumulation before this, in the Medieval Warm Period, was higher, as was also the case following the Little Ice Age, as the earth transitioned to the Modern Warm Period.
What it means
Climate alarmists often claim that warming will hasten the release of carbon from ancient peat bogs. These real-world data, on the other hand, actually demonstrate that just the opposite is more likely to be true.
Reference
Oldfield, F., Thompson, R., Crooks, P.R.J., Gedye, S.J., Hall, V.A., Harkness, D.D., Housley, R.A., McCormac, F.G., Newton, A.J., Pilcher, J.R., Renberg, I. and Richardson, N. 1997. Radiocarbon dating of a recent high-latitude peat profile: Stor Amyran, northern Sweden. The Holocene 7: 283-290.
Reviewed 7 April 2004