ABSTRACT
Diatom analysis has been used extensively to reconstruct past environments, and increasingly attention is being given to developing the technique to model Holocene climate variability. This chapter reviews progress in the field, including both qualitative and quantitative interpretations: (i) the relationships between diatoms and climate indicators such as solar insolation (Elk Lake, Minnesota), snow cover (Lake Baikal) and ice-cover (Elison Lake, Ellesmere Island); (ii) the development of models to reconstruct diatom inferred climates, either directly (e.g. surface water temperature, Scandanavia) or indirectly (e.g. pH in the Austrian Alps and on Baffin Island; e.g. salinity in lakes in the Northern Great Plains region, North America); and (iii) the development of high resolution studies in coastal and marine environments (including the Icelandic Shelf, the Antarctic Peninsula and the eastern Norwegian Sea). The importance of autecological and taphonomic studies is highlighted, although they still receive too little attention when attempts are made to interpret past climates using diatom analysis.
