During the last ice age, the Northern Hemisphere experienced a series of abrupt millennial-scale climatic changes linked to variations in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and sea-ice extent. However, our understanding of their impacts on decadal-scale climate variability in central Europe has been limited by the lack of high-resolution continental archives. Here, we present a near annual-resolution climate proxy record of central European temperature reconstructed from the Eifel maar lakes of Holzmaar and Auel in Germany, spanning the past 60,000 years. The lake sediments reveal a series of previously undocumented multidecadal climate cycles of around 20 to 150 years that persisted through the last glacial cycle. The periodicity of these cycles suggests that they are related to the Atlantic multidecadal climate oscillations found in the instrumental record and in other climate archives during the Holocene. Our record shows that multidecadal variability in central Europe was strong during all warm interstadials, but was substantially muted during all cold stadial periods. We suggest that this decrease in multidecadal variability was the result of the atmospheric circulation changes associated with the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the expansion of North Atlantic sea-ice cover during the coldest parts of the last ice age.

在上一个冰河时代，北半球经历了一系列突变的千年尺度气候变化，这些变化与大西洋经向翻转环流强度和海冰范围的变化有关。然而，由于缺乏高分辨率的大陆档​​案，我们对其对中欧十年尺度气候变率的影响的理解受到限制。在这里，我们展示了从德国 Holzmaar 和 Auel 的 Eifel maar 湖重建的中欧温度接近年度分辨率的气候代理记录，跨越过去 60,000 年。湖泊沉积物揭示了一系列先前未记录的、大约 20 到 150 年的数十年气候周期，这些气候周期一直持续到最后一个冰河周期。这些周期的周期性表明它们与全新世仪器记录和其他气候档案中发现的大西洋多年代际气候振荡有关。我们的记录显示，中欧的多年代际变化在所有温暖的间歇期都很强，但在所有寒冷的间歇期都基本减弱。我们认为，这种多年代际变率的减少是与大西洋经向翻转环流减弱和上一个冰河时代最冷时期北大西洋海冰覆盖扩大相关的大气环流变化的结果。但在所有寒冷的运动期间都基本静音。我们认为，这种多年代际变率的减少是与大西洋经向翻转环流减弱和上一个冰河时代最冷时期北大西洋海冰覆盖扩大相关的大气环流变化的结果。但在所有寒冷的运动期间都基本静音。我们认为，这种多年代际变率的减少是与大西洋经向翻转环流减弱和上一个冰河时代最冷时期北大西洋海冰覆盖扩大相关的大气环流变化的结果。