COMNISPA II: Update of a mid-European isotope climate record, 11 ka to present

We present an update (COMNISPA II) of a precisely dated, high-resolution speleothem δ 18 O record from the Austrian Alps. COMNISPA II consists of five stalagmites from Spannagel Cave, which have comparable δ 18 O values within periods of simultaneous growth and show similar δ 18 O variations on centennial to millennial timescales. This allows combining the five stalagmites to one composite record using a newly developed statistical approach. The COMNISPA II stack differs slightly from the previous version, but is better constrained because of additional stalagmites used for the reconstruction and a more objective method used for constructing the composite record. Furthermore, the record now covers the last 11 ka and shows variations in δ 18 O values by about 2‰. As previously shown, these variations compare well with other records in central Europe and the North Atlantic, and thus reflect a large-scale climate evolution.