Pollen and radiocarbon data from Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea Region suggest that the hypothetical Panarctic Ice Sheet (Denton and Hughes, 1981) never existed in this area, at least during the last 16 000 years. Lateglacial tundra environments were slightly cooler and drier than the present ones, but there were also warmer intervals such as the Allerød, which were rather favourable for vegetation development. Better conditions existed during the early Holocene, when warm Atlantic air masses and sea currents gradually penetrated eastwards to the Kara Region.

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