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The stable carbon isotope composition of total organic matter (δ13Corg) has been utilized in aeolian sediments, serving as an indicator for reconstructing terrestrial paleoenvironments. The Qinghai Lake (QHL) Basin is a climate-sensitive region of significant importance in paleoclimatic reconstruction. However, the reconstructed climatic variations based on δ13Corg in aeolian sediments in the QHL Basin in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) are lacking, and their paleoclimatic significance remains poorly understood. By conducting δ13Corg measurements on the Niaodao (ND) aeolian profile near QHL, we reconstructed the paleoclimate changes of 11 ka–present. The variation range of the δ13Corg values in the ND profile indicated the terrestrial ecosystems were not the sole contributor to lacustrine organic matter. The δ13Corg values are an indicator of historical temperature changes in the study area, exhibiting similar trends with the reconstruction of Chinese summer temperatures, East Asian air temperature, global temperature, and Northern Hemisphere summer insolation at 37° N. The temperature increased with high frequency and amplitude oscillations, with strong aeolian activity and low total organic carbon accumulation during the Early Holocene. The temperature was maintained at a high and stable level, with the weakest aeolian activity and intensified pedogenesis during the Middle Holocene. The temperature decreased at a high rate, with renewed aeolian activity and weak pedogenesis during the Late Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that the latest decade was warmer than any multi-century period over the past 125,000 years. This statement rests on a comparison of modern instrumental measurements against the course of past temperatures reconstructed from natural proxy archives, such as lake and marine sediments, and peat bogs. Here, we evaluate this comparison with a focus on the hundreds of proxy records developed by paleoclimatologists across the globe to reconstruct climate variability over the Holocene (12,000 years) and preceded by the Last Glacial Period (125,000 years). Although the existing proxy data provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct low-frequency climate variability on centennial timescales, they lack temporal resolution and dating precision for contextualizing the most recent temperature extremes. While the IPCC's conclusion on the uniqueness of latest-decade warming is thus not supported by comparison with these smoothed paleotemperatures, it is still likely correct as ice core-derived forcing timeseries show that greenhouse gases were not elevated during any pre-instrumental period of the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]