Simulated Permafrost Dynamics in the Northwest Czech Republic During the Last Glacial Cycle

We simulated permafrost dynamics during the Last Glacial cycle for the Litoměřice borehole in the northwest Czech Republic based on three distal palaeo‐temperature proxy records that were optimized to minimize the deviation between the simulated and measured temperature–depth profiles. The most plausible simulations showed that there were two major permafrost phases in marine isotope stage (MIS) 4 and 2 when the maximum permafrost thickness was ~ 80 and ~ 110 m, respectively. Several permafrost growth and degradation phases took place during MIS 3, but the maximum permafrost thickness reached only ~ 40 m. Only short‐term occurrences of less than ~ 20‐m thick permafrost occurred during MIS 5d–a, and no permafrost existed during MIS 1. Unlike previous simulations that largely had unknown validity, the permafrost dynamics simulated here is consistent with the measured temperature–depth profiles as well as with the growth and degradation of diverse permafrost features. Hence, we provide a plausible reconstruction of past permafrost occurrence and thickness for the whole Last Glacial cycle, which is superior to the existing permafrost records and archives that are mostly clustered in and around MIS 2.