Extreme climates and present-day analogues : the Holocene and Tardiglacial periods

The global warming of the last century needs to be placed in a broader temporal context in order to determine its singularity and distinguish the underlying causes, both natural and anthropogenic. Climate variations from the end of the last glacial period, the Tardiglacial, to the beginning of the current interglacial period, the Holocene, are used to test multiple hypotheses, with observations that are generally sufficiently reliable. This transition period was particularly turbulent, with major variations in the main climatic parameters and transient episodes opposed to post-glacial climatic improvement.