gcm analysis of local influences on ice core δ signals a high resolution gcm is used to examine the effect of changes in local surface climate parameters on the ice sheets that can influence the interpretation of the isotopic signal of the ice from deep cores the model suggests that the 10 c difference between the lgm surface temperature deduced from borehole thermometry and that deduced from the water isotope analysis to a great extent may be due to a modification of the precipitation seasonality in central greenland for central east antarctica the model tends to suggest a weak opposite bias

effect of wind scouring on climatic records from ice core oxygen isotope profiles removal of winter snow by wind explains why the annual mean oxygen isotope ratio at an ice divide is 2 5 less negative than it is 1 2 km downslope cores from two sites on an ice cap ellesmere island canada show past variations in the difference depending on where the ice originated relative to the scoured zone some ice core climatic records may need correction for scouring

the younger dryas termination and north atlantic deep water formation insights from climate model simulations and greenland ice cores results from the gisp2 and grip ice cores show that the termination of the younger dryas yd climate event in greenland was a large and extremely fast climate change a reinitiation of north atlantic deep water formation following a shutdown and its associated winter release of heat to the atmosphere has been suggested as the most likely cause of this climate transition to test this idea two general circulation model experiments using genesis have been completed for yd time 12 000 calendar years ago one with low heat flux in the nordic seas 10 w m deep water shutdown and one with high nordic sea heat flux 300 w m active deep water formation comparison of greenland climate differences between these experiments with the ice core records shows that when deep water is turned on much of the yd termination warming is achieved the increase in precipitation is underestimated because of a model tendency to overestimate summertime precipitation which obscures the dominantly wintertime response to the specified forcing the winter storm track shift toward greenland contributes much of the climate change at the yd termination

the role of ocean atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles abstract a case is made that glacial to interglacial transitions involve major reorganizations of the ocean atmosphere system such reorganizations constitute jumps between stable modes of operation which cause changes in the greenhouse gas content and albedo of the atmosphere only in this way can the rapidity of glacial terminations the hemispheric synchroneity and symmetry of mountain glaciation and the large polar air temperature and dustiness variations be accounted for if these reorganizations are driven in some fashion by orbitally induced seasonal insolation changes then the connection between insolation and climate is most likely through impacts of fresh water transport on the ocean s salinity distribution

major features and forcing of high latitude northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation using a 110 000 year long glaciochemical series the greenland ice sheet project 2 glaciochemical series sodium potassium ammonium calcium magnesium sulfate nitrate and chloride provides a unique view of the chemistry of the atmosphere and the history of atmospheric circulation over both the high latitudes and mid low latitudes of the northern hemisphere interpretation of this record reveals a diverse array of environmental signatures that include the documentation of anthropogenically derived pollutants volcanic and biomass burning events storminess over marine surfaces continental aridity and biogenic source strength plus information related to the controls on both high and low frequency climate events of the last 110 000 years climate forcings investigated include changes in insolation of the order of the major orbital cycles that control the long term behavior of atmospheric circulation patterns through changes in ice volume sea level events such as the heinrich events massive discharges of icebergs first identified in the marine record that are found to operate on a 6100 year cycle due largely to the lagged response of ice sheets to changes in insolation and consequent glacier dynamics and rapid climate change events massive reorganizations of atmospheric circulation that are demonstrated to operate on 1450 year cycles changes in insolation and associated positive feedbacks related to ice sheets may assist in explaining favorable time periods and controls on the amplitude of massive rapid climate change events explanation for the exact timing and global synchroneity of these events is however more complicated preliminary evidence points to possible solar variability climate associations for these events and perhaps others that are embedded in our ice core derived atmospheric circulation records

co2 record between 40 and 8 kyr b p from the greenland ice core project ice core co2 ice core records show an increase in the atmospheric concentration of 80 100 parts per million by volume ppmv from the last glacial maximum lgm to the early holocene we present co2 measurements performed on an ice core from central greenland drilled during the greenland ice core project grip this co2 profile from grip confirms the most prominent co2 increase from the lgm with a mean concentration of 200 ppmv to the early holocene with concentrations between 290 and 310 ppmv some structures of the new co2 record are similar to those previously obtained from the dye 3 ice core greenland which indicated a dilemma between greenland and antarctic co2 records oeschger et al 1988 both greenland cores show high co2 values for rather mild climatic periods during the last glaciation whereas co2 records from antarctica do not show such high co2 variations during the glaciation and furthermore the co2 values in the early holocene are about 20 30 ppmv higher in the grip record than in antarctic records there is some evidence that the difference could be due to chemical reactions between impurities in the ice leading to an increase of the co2 concentration under certain conditions if in situ processes can change the co2 concentration in the air bubbles the question arises about how reliably do co2 records from ice cores reflect the atmospheric composition at the time of ice formation the discrepancies between the co2 profiles from greenland and antarctica can be explained by in situ production of excess co2 due to interactions between carbonate and acidic species since the carbonate concentration in antarctic ice is much lower than in greenland ice co2 records from antarctica are much less affected by such in situ produced co2

climate correlations between greenland and antarctica during the past 100 000 years the ice cores recovered from central greenland by the grip1 2 and gisp23 projects record 22 interstadial warm events during the part of the last glaciation spanning 20 105 kyr before present the ice core from vostok east antarctica records nine interstadials during this period4 5 here we explore links between greenland and antarctic climate during the last glaciation using a high resolution chronology derived by correlating oxygen isotope data for trapped o2 in the gisp2 and vostok cores we find that interstadials occurred in east antarctica whenever those in greenland lasted longer than 2 000 years our results suggest that partial deglaciation and changes in ocean circulation are partly responsible for the climate teleconnection between greenland and antarctica ice older than 115 kyr in the gisp2 core shows rapid variations in the 18o of o2 that have no counterpart in the vostok record the age depth relationship and thus the climate record in this part of the gisp2 core appears to be significantly disturbed

abrupt post glacial climate events in west asia and north africa monsoon domains regions beyond the present or past penetration of the indian and african monsoons have experienced several large and abrupt climatic fluctuations over the past 13 14c kyr pollen and lake records from west asia western tibet and rajasthan east africa ethiopia and west africa western sahara sahel and subequatorial africa were selected on the basis of chronological control sensitivity of both site and environmental indicators to climate change the continuity of the record and interdisciplinary control of the palaeoclimatic interpretation conditions wetter than those of today prevailed during the early mid holocene period but major dry spells are recorded at all sites during the intervals 11 0 9 5 kyr bp 8 7 kyr bp and 3 4 kyr bp several records also suggest dry events of minor amplitude around 6 kyr bp potential boundary forcings of insolation and sea surface and tropical land surface conditions are discussed the solar radiation accounts for the general envelop of the post glacial monsoon fluctuations but explains neither the timing nor the amplitude of the short term changes in spite of apparent covariation between fluctuations in sea surface conditions in the north atlantic and the monsoon record no direct mechanism could be found relating the intensity of the oceanic thermohaline conveyor belt to the monsoon strength changes in tropical land surface conditions soil moisture negative feedback and changes in ch4 production from wetlands provide a more satisfactory hypothesis for explaining abrupt reversal events

the flickering switch of late pleistocene climate change polar ice contains a unique record of past climate variations previous greenland ice cores have documented relatively warm interstadial periods during the last glaciation and short centuryscale returns to colder conditions during the glacial to interglacial warming see for example ref 1 these climate features have also been observed to varying degrees in ocean sediment cores2 4 and terrestrial pollen and insect records5 7 here we report electrical conductivity measurements from a new greenland ice core which confirm these previous observations and also reveal a hitherto unrecognized mode of rapid climate variation fluctuations in ice conductivity on the scales of 5 20 years reflect rapid oscillations in the dust content of the atmosphere this flickering between two preferred states would seem to require extremely rapid reorganizations in atmospheric circulation

the younger dryas cold interval as viewed from central greenland abstract greenland ice core records provide an exceptionally clear picture of many aspects of abrupt climate changes and particularly of those associated with the younger dryas event as reviewed here well preserved annual layers can be counted confidently with only 1 errors for the age of the end of the younger dryas 11 500 years before present ice flow corrections allow reconstruction of snow accumulation rates over tens of thousands of years with little additional uncertainty glaciochemical and particulate data record atmospheric loading changes with little uncertainty introduced by changes in snow accumulation confident paleothermometry is provided by site specific calibrations using ice isotopic ratios borehole temperatures and gas isotopic ratios near simultaneous changes in ice core paleoclimatic indicators of local regional and more widespread climate conditions demonstrate that much of the earth experienced abrupt climate changes synchronous with greenland within thirty years or less post younger dryas changes have not duplicated the size extent and rapidity of these paleoclimatic changes

abrupt increase in greenland snow accumulation at the end of the younger dryas event the warming at the end of the last glaciation was characterized by a series of abrupt returns to glacial climate the best known of which is the younger dryas event1 despite much study of the causes of this event and the mechanisms by which it ended many questions remain unresolved1 oxygen isotope data from greenland ice cores2 4 suggest that the younger dryas ended abruptly over a period of about 50 years dust concentrations2 4 in these cores show an even more rapid transition 20 years this extremely short timescale places severe constraints on the mechanisms underlying the transition but dust concentrations can reflect subtle changes in atmospheric circulation which need not be associated with a large change in climate here we present results from a new greenland ice core gisp2 showing that snow accumulation doubled rapidly from the younger dryas event to the subsequent preboreal interval possibly in one to three years we also find that the accumulation rate change from the oldest dryas to the bo11ing allerod warm period was large and abrupt the extreme rapidity of these changes in a variable that directly represents regional climate implies that the events at the end of the last glaciation may have been responses to some kind of threshold or trigger in the north atlantic climate system

the british lower palaeolithic of the early middle pleistocene the archaeology of britain during the early middle pleistocene mis 19 12 is represented by a number of key sites across eastern and southern england these sites include pakefield happisburgh 1 high lodge warren hill waverley wood boxgrove kent s cavern and westbury sub mendip alongside a background scatter lithic record associated with the principal river systems bytham pre diversion thames and solent and raised beaches westbourne arundel hominin behaviour can be characterised in terms of preferences for temperate or cool temperate climates and open woodland mosaic habitats indicated by mammalian fauna mollusca insects and sediments a biface dominated material culture characterised by technological diversity although with accompanying evidence for distinctive core and flake pakefield and flake tool high lodge assemblages probable direct hunting based subsistence strategies with a focus upon large mammal fauna and generally locally focused spatial and landscape behaviours principally indicated by raw material sources data although with some evidence of dynamic mobile and structured technological systems the british data continues to support a modified short chronology to the north of the alps and the pyrenees with highly sporadic evidence for a hominin presence prior to 500 600 ka although the ages of key assemblages are subject to ongoing debates regarding the chronology of the bytham river terraces and the early middle pleistocene glaciations of east anglia

deep circulation change linked to heinrich event 1 and younger dryas in a middepth north atlantic core a core from the mid atlantic ridge at 43 5 n and 3 km water depth shows distinct evidence of the deglacial events known as heinrich event 1 probably the marine equivalent of oldest dryas cooling in europe and the younger dryas the heinrich event dated at three levels to between 14 3 and 15 0 ka is marked by a minimum in foraminifera per gram by maxima in rates of sedimentation ice rafted debris per gram and relative abundance of n pachyderma s and by a 18o minimum in planktonic foraminifera the younger dryas event is marked by peak abundance of n pachyderma s and a planktonic 18o maximum benthic foraminiferal 13c reaches minimum values during both the heinrich event and the younger dryas our data indicate pronounced changes in surface water properties were coupled with reduced production of north atlantic deep water at each of these times

a calendar age estimate of the younger dryas holocene boundary at krakenes western norway the younger dryas holocene transition yd h in the sediments of krakenes lake western norway is well marked both lithologically and palaeobiologically at 756 5 cm in the investigated core a ser

holocene climatic instability a prominent widespread event 8200 yr ago the most prominent holocene climatic event in greenland ice core proxies with approximately half the amplitude of the younger dryas occurred 8000 to 8400 yr ago this holocene event affected regions well beyond the north atlantic basin as shown by synchronous increases in windblown chemical indicators together with a significant decrease in methane widespread proxy records from the tropics to the north polar regions show a short lived cool dry or windy event of similar age the spatial pattern of terrestrial and marine changes is similar to that of the younger dryas event suggesting a role for north atlantic thermohaline circulation possible forcings identified thus far for this holocene event are small consistent with recent model results indicating high sensitivity and strong linkages in the climatic system

pre incan agricultural activity recorded in dust layers in two tropical ice cores in south america no documentary records survive from before the incursion of the spaniards in the mid sixteenth century knowledge of pre hispanic civilizations in this region comes largely from archaeological excavations which may now be supplemented by information recorded in two ice cores drilled in the quelccaya ice cap in southern peru fig 1 1 2 a 1 500 year record of particle concentrations and conductivity in these cores shows two major dust episodes each lasting about 130 years centred at ad 920 and 600 here we examine these dust events in the light of oxygen isotope and net accumulation records and suggest a correlation with pre incan agricultural activity the annual net accumulation record for ad 1915 1984 compares well with annual changes in lake titicaca water levels and with annual precipitation at el alto lapaz bolivia suggesting that the 1 500 year net accumulation record from quelccaya may serve as a proxy for water level changes in lake titicaca the ice core record suggests that climatic variability reflected in lake level changes has strongly influenced fluctuations in agricultural activity in southern peru

deglacial changes in ocean circulation from an extended radiocarbon calibration temporal variations in the atmospheric concentration of radiocarbon sometimes result in radiocarbon based age estimates of biogenic material that do not agree with true calendar age this problem is particularly severe beyond the limit of the high resolution radiocarbon calibration based on tree ring data which stretches back only to1 2 about 11 8 kyr before present bp near the termination of the younger dryas cold period if a wide range of palaeoclimate records are to be exploited for better understanding the rates and patterns of environmental change during the last deglaciation extending the well calibrated radiocarbon timescale back further in time is crucial several studies attempting such an extension using uranium thorium dated corals3 4 5 and laminae counts in varved sediments6 7 8 9 show conflicting results here we use radiocarbon data from varved sediments in the cariaco basin in the southern caribbean sea to construct an accurate and continuous radiocarbon calibration for the period 9 to 14 5 kyr bp nearly 3 000 years beyond the tree ring based calibration a simple model compared to the calculated atmospheric radiocarbon concentration and palaeoclimate data from the same sediment core suggests that north atlantic deep water formation shut down during the younger dryas period but was gradually replaced by an alternative mode of convection possibly via the formation of north atlantic intermediate water

visual stratigraphic dating of the gisp2 ice core basis reproducibility and application annual layers are visible in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core from central greenland allowing rapid dating of the core changes in bubble and grain structure caused by near surface primarily summertime formation of hoar complexes provide the main visible annual marker in the holocene and changes in cloudiness of the ice correlated with dustiness mark wisconsinan annual cycles both markers are evident and have been intercalibrated in early holocene ice layer counts are reproducible between different workers and for one worker at different times with 1 error over century length times in the holocene reproducibility is typically 5 in wisconsinan ice age ice and decreases with increasing age and depth cumulative ages from visible stratigraphy are not significantly different from independent ages of prominent events for ice older than the historical record and younger than approximately 50 000 years visible observations are not greatly degraded by brittle ice or many other core quality problems allowing construction of long consistently sampled time series high accuracy requires careful study of the core by dedicated observers

deformation thermometry based on quartz c axis fabrics and recrystallization microstructures a review abstract for quartz rich tectonites two types of deformation thermometer are currently commonly employed 1 the quartz c axis fabric opening angle thermometer that provides an estimate of deformation temperatures when fabrics were locked in during dislocation creep and dynamic recrystallization 2 the quartz recrystallization thermometer that indicates a range of likely deformation temperatures based on observed microstructures and inferred mechanisms of dynamic recrystallization a critically important caveat in applying both thermometers is the assumption that deformation temperature is the primary controlling factor in recrystallization mechanisms and fabric development however fabric opening angles and recrystallization mechanisms are also sensitive to other variables such as strain rate and water weakening in this paper the development of these thermometers is reviewed and their potential sensitivities to competing factors such as temperature strain rate water weakening and in the case of opening angles 3d strain type are discussed examples of the application of these potential thermometers to naturally deformed quartz rich rocks are given and case studies of correlations between deformation temperatures estimated by these thermometers and temperatures of synkinematic metamorphism determined by petrology based thermobarometers are highlighted in the review attention is focused on problems associated with applying these thermometers to natural deformation and examples of such problems are discussed

the global response to younger dryas boundary conditions in an agcm simulation geological evidence points to a global younger dryas yd climatic oscillation during the last glacial present interglacial transition phase a convincing mechanism to explain this global yd climatic oscillation is not yet available nevertheless a profound understanding of the mechanism behind the yd climate would lead to a better understanding of climate variability

the continental tree ring record absolute chronology 14c calibration and climatic change at 11 ka abstract tree ring chronologies are unique archives for various parameters indicating climatic change the wood structure of trees deposited in river gravel below the water table is well preserved even after several millennia and it provides information on a time scale of solar years during the past 25 years in the hohenheim tree ring laboratory long tree ring chronologies have been constructed now reaching back to 11 400 yr dendro b p in this contribution we demonstrate the evidence for climatic change in the early holocene which can be obtained both from botanical properties e g parameters of ring growth and from the isotopic information recorded in tree rings

resolving the younger dryas event through borehole thermometry meltwater influxes may partly explain the low oxygen isotope values measured in the dye 3 and camp century ice cores this has led to speculation that greenland may not have cooled during the younger dryas and underlined the need for independent checks of the oxygen isotope record using optimal control methods and heat flow modeling the author makes a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to distinguish the younger dryas event in the ice sheet temperatures measured at dye 3 south greenland the author discusses the prospects for attempting the same in the new summit boreholes in central greenland how that will require more accurate temperature measurements a coupled thermo mechanical model and a refined uncertainty analysis he concludes by discussing how borehole temperature analysis may improve the climate histories determined from ice cores

age scale of the air in the summit ice implication for glacial interglacial temperature change the air occluded in ice sheets and glaciers has in general a younger age defined as the time after its isolation from the atmosphere than the surrounding ice matrix because snow is first transformed into open porous firn in which the air can exchange with the atmosphere only at a certain depth firn ice transition the pores are pinched off and the air is definitely isolated from the atmosphere the firn ice transition depth is at around 70 m under present climatic conditions at summit central greenland the air at this depth is roughly 10 years old due to diffusive mixing whereas the ice is about 220 years old this results in an age difference between the air and the ice of 210 years this difference depends on temperature and accumulation rate and did thus not remain constant during the past we used a dynamic firn densification model to calculate the firn ice transition depth and the age of the ice at this depth and an air diffusion model to determine the age of the air at the transition past temperatures and accumulation rates have been deduced from the 18o record using time independent functions we present the results of model calculations of two paleotemperature scenarios yielding a record of the age difference between the air and the ice for the greenland ice core project grip and the greenland ice sheet project two gisp2 ice cores for the last 100 000 years during the holocene the age difference stayed rather stable around 200 years while it reached values up to 1400 years during the last glaciation for the colder scenario the model results are compared with age differences obtained independently by matching corresponding climate events in the methane and 18o records assuming a very small phase lag between variations in the greenland surface temperature and the atmospheric methane the past firn ice transition depths are compared with diffusive column heights obtained from 15n of n2 measurements the results of this study corroborate the large temperature change of 20 to 25 k from the coldest glacial to holocene climate found by evaluating borehole temperature profiles

the greenland ice sheet project 2 depth age scale methods and results the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 depth age scale is presented based on a multiparameter continuous count approach to a depth of 2800 m using a systematic combination of parameters that have never been used to this extent before the ice at 2800 m is dated at 110 000 years b p with an estimated error ranging from 1 to 10 in the top 2500 m of the core and averaging 20 between 2500 and 2800 m parameters used to date the core include visual stratigraphy oxygen isotopic ratios of the ice electrical conductivity measurements laser light scattering from dust volcanic signals and major ion chemistry gisp2 ages for major climatic events agree with independent ages based on varve chronologies calibrated radiocarbon dates and other techniques within the combined uncertainties good agreement also is obtained with greenland ice core project ice core dates and with the specmap marine timescale after correlation through the 18 o of o 2 although the core is deformed below 2800 m and the continuity of the record is unclear we attempted to date this section of the core on the basis of the laser light scattering of dust in the ice

continuous dust concentration profile of pre holocene ice from the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core dust stadials interstadials and the eemian in this paper we present and discuss the pre holocene dust profile of the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core retrieved from central greenland measured using laser light scattering lls from ice and compare it with the electrical conductivity method and oxygen isotope profiles we describe how we dated the pre holocene ice using the annual dust peaks observed with lls starting from the accepted chronology to 2250 m and obtained a chronology in substantial accord with the gas age dating of the ice we also show that the gisp2 ice core penetrated the eemian and that a record of a 10 2 kyr penultimate glaciation is present in the gisp2 core

changes in the atmospheric ch4 gradient between greenland and antarctica during the holocene high resolution records of atmospheric methane over the last 11 500 years have been obtained from two antarctic ice cores d47 and byrd and a greenland core greenland ice core project these cores show similar trapping conditions for trace gases in the ice combined with a comparable sampling resolution this together with a good relative chronology provided by unequivocal ch 4 features allows a direct comparison of the synchronized greenland and antarctic records and it reveals significant changes in the interpolar difference of ch 4 mixing ratio with time on the average over the full holocene records we find an interpolar difference of 44 7 ppbv a minimum difference of 33 7 ppbv is observed from 7 to 5 kyr b p whereas the maximum gradient 50 3 ppbv took place from 5 to 2 5 kyr b p a gradient of 44 4 ppbv is observed during the early holocene 11 5 to 9 5 kyr b p we use a three box model to translate the measured differences into quantitative contributions of methane sources in the tropics and the middle to high latitudes of the northern hemisphere the model results support the previous interpretation that past natural ch 4 sources mainly lay in tropical regions but it also suggests that boreal regions provided a significant contribution to the ch 4 hudget especially at the start of the holocene the growing extent of peat bogs in boreal regions would also have counterbalanced the drying of the tropics over the second half of the holocene finally our model results suggest a large source increase in tropical regions from the late holocene to the last millennium which may partly be caused by anthropogenic emissions

irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new greenland ice core the greenland ice sheet offers the most favourable conditions in the northern hemisphere for obtaining high resolution continuous time series of climate related parameters profiles of 18o 16o ratio along three previous deep greenland ice cores1 3 seemed to reveal irregular but well defined episodes of relatively mild climate conditions interstadials during the mid and late parts of the last glaciation but there has been some doubt as to whether the shifts in oxygen isotope ratio were genuine representations of changes in climate rather than artefacts due to disturbed stratification here we present results from a new deep ice core drilled at the summit of the greenland ice sheet where the depositional environ ment and the flow pattern of the ice are close to ideal for core recovery and analysis the results reproduce the previous findings to such a degree that the existence of the interstadial episodes can no longer be in doubt according to a preliminary timescale based on stratigraphic studies the interstadials lasted from 500 to 2 000 years and their irregular occurrence suggests complexity in the behaviour of the north atlantic ocean circulation

asian provenance of glacial dust stage 2 in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core summit greenland samples of dust from the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core summit greenland dated within marine isotope stage 2 between 23 340 and 26 180 calendar years b p around the time of the coldest local last glacial temperatures have been analyzed to determine their provenance to accomplish this we have compared them with approximately coeval aeolian sediments mostly loesses sampled in possible source areas psas from around the northern hemisphere the 5 m grain size fraction of these samples was analyzed on the basis that it corresponds to the atmospheric dust component of that time and locale which was sufficiently fine grained to be transported over long distances on the basis of comparison of the clay mineralogy and sr nd and pb isotope composition with ice dust and psas and assuming that we have sampled the most important psas we have determined that the probable source area of these gisp2 dusts was in eastern asia the dust was not derived from either the midcontinental united states or the sahara two more proximal areas that have been suggested as potential sources based on atmospheric circulation modeling except for a brief period during an interstadial when dust transport was exceptionally low for glacial times and had a mineralogical composition indicative of a slightly more southern provenance the source area of the dust did not change significantly during times of variably higher fluxes of dust with larger mean grain size or lower fluxes of dust with smaller mean grain size this includes the high dust period that correlates with the heinrich 2 period of major iceberg discharge into the north atlantic variable wind strengths must therefore be invoked to account for these abrupt and significant changes in dust flux and grain size

the impact of cold north atlantic sea surface temperatures on climate implications for the younger dryas cooling 11 10 k the sensitivity of global climate to colder north atlantic sea surface temperatures is in vestigated with the use of the giss general circulation model north atlantic ocean temperatures 18 000 b p resembling those prevalent during the younger dryas were incorporated into the model of the present climate and also into an experiment using orbital parameters and land ice characteristic of 11 000 b p the results show that with both 11 000 b p and present conditions the colder ocean temperatures produce cooling over western and central europe in good agreement with younger dryas paleoclimatic evidence cooling also occurs over extreme eastern north america although the precise magnitude and location depends upon the specification of ocean temperature change in the western atlantic despite the presence of increased land ice and colder ocean temperatures the younger dryas summer air temperatures at northern hemisphere midlatitudes in the model are warmer than those of today due to changes in the orbital parameters chiefly precession and atmospheric subsidence at the perimeter of the ice sheets

sudden changes in north atlantic circulation during the last deglaciation sudden changes in the flow of warm atlantic surface waters into the norwegian sea occurred frequently during the last deglaciation typically involving shifts in sea surface temperature of 5 c in fewer than 40 years these led to equally large and rapid changes in atmospheric temperatures and to shifts in atlantic deep thermo haline circulation and ice sheet melting rates

large arctic temperature change at the wisconsin holocene glacial transition analysis of borehole temperature and greenland ice sheet project ii ice core isotopic composition reveals that the warming from average glacial conditions to the holocene in central greenland was large approximately 15 c this is at least three times the coincident temperature change in the tropics and mid latitudes the coldest periods of the last glacial were probably 21 c colder than at present over the greenland ice sheet

evidence against a significant younger dryas cooling event in new zealand pollen records of deglacial sequences from northwest nelson new zealand demonstrate that there was no significant temperature decline associated with the younger dryas in new zealand records of glacial advances at this time were either the product of increased snow accumulation under enhanced precipitation regimes or random variation rather than the result of a regional thermal decline this finding supports those models of younger dryas initiation that require neither enhanced westerly circulation nor significant thermal decline in the southern hemisphere

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

air content along the greenland ice core project core a record of surface climatic parameters and elevation in central greenland we present here measurements of the air content of the ice v performed along the greenland ice core project grip ice core the main features of the long term trends are 1 a decrease of 13 between the last glacial maximum lgm and the earliest part of the holocene and 2 an increase of 8 during the holocene the results are discussed in terms of changes in atmospheric pressure surface elevation and porosity at close off the v record contains a significant signal of past changes of surface elevation in qualitative agreement with ice sheet modeling simulations it suggests a thickening of central greenland during the transition from the lgm to the early holocene and a significant thinning through the holocene period it also stresses the large influence on past v variations of changes in ice porosity which are not explained by the present day spatial relationship with temperature and may reflect changes in other surface climatic parameters like precipitation seasonality or wind stress the potential role of temporal variations of atmospheric pressure patterns is also evaluated air content results in the grip ice older than 110 ka indicate values approximately in the same range as those observed during the last 40 000 years with generally higher air content corresponding to isotopically warmer ice

the chronology of the last deglaciation implications to the cause of the younger dryas event it has long been recognized that the transition from the last glacial to the present interglacial was punctuated by a brief and intense return to cold conditions this extraordinary event referred to by european palynologists as the younger dryas was centered in the northern atlantic basin evidence is accumulating that it may have been initiated and terminated by changes in the mode of operation of the northern atlantic ocean further it appears that these mode changes may have been triggered by diversions of glacial meltwater between the mississippi river and the st lawrence river drainage systems we report here accelerator mass spectrometry ams radiocarbon results on two strategically located deep sea cores one provides a chronology for surface water temperatures in the northern atlantic and the other for the meltwater discharge from the mississippi river our objective in obtaining these results was to strengthen our ability to correlate the air temperature history for the northern atlantic basin with the meltwater history for the laurentian ice sheet

changes in continental and sea salt atmospheric loadings in central greenland during the most recent deglaciation model based estimates by fitting a very simple atmospheric impurity model to high resolution data on ice accumulation and contaminant fluxes in the gisp2 ice core we have estimated changes in the atmospheric concentrations of soluble major ions insoluble particulates and 10 be during the transition from glacial to holocene conditions for many species changes in concentration in the ice typically overestimate atmospheric changes and changes in flux to the ice typically underestimate atmospheric changes because times of increased atmospheric contaminant loading are also times of reduced snowfall the model interpolates between the flux and concentration records by explicitly allowing for wet and dry deposition processes compared to the warm preboreal that followed we estimate that the atmosphere over greenland sampled by snow accumulated during the younger dry as cold event contained on average four seven times the insoluble particulates and nearly seven times the soluble calcium derived from continental sources and about three times the sea salt but only slightly more cosmogenic 10 be

primary aerosol sea salt and soil dust deposited in greenland ice during the last climatic cycle comparison with east antarctic records ion chromatography data of ca mg cl and ca and coulter counter particle measurements are used to study the cycle of marine and continental primary aerosol reaching greenland in relation to climatic changes over the last 150 kyr a detailed comparison between greenland dome summit and antarctic vostok records provides new insight on a potential link between northern and southern patterns ca is a good indicator of continental input and is mainly emitted as caco3 an attempt is made to estimate the contribution of aluminosilicates using the concentration of insoluble particles greater than 0 5 m in diameter the relative abundance of non sea salt mg and ca and of aluminosilicate shows that the calcium content of continental background aerosol over greenland was much higher during the glacial age the neutralization capacity of carbonaceous aerosol is estimated the inverse relationship between 18o and continental input as well as the response of this input to the rapid climatic variations that have occurred during the second part of the glacial age are discussed in terms of source and transport modification in relation to the presence and the extent of the great laurentide ice cap the corresponding vostok profiles strongly suggest that some of the phenomena observed at high northern latitudes are of global concern the marine component of na nam is a good tracer of sea salt aerosol similarly to continental input it shows an inverse but more linear relationship with 18o the sensitivity of greenland and antarctic marine input to climate variations of small and large amplitude is compared and a corresponding estimation is made for the aeolian contribution the respective influence of atmospheric circulation and the water vapor cycle is discussed the chlorine to marine sodium weight ratio increases with temperature from values very close to the bulk seawater ratio during the last glacial maximum 18 20 kyr b p to values significantly higher during the holocene and warm eemian the corresponding excess of chloride hcl is discussed in terms of atmospheric transport taking into account the role of atmospheric acidity on sea salt fractionation processes owing to postdepositional phenomena similar vostok data must be considered cautiously nevertheless aerosol fractionation seems to have been much more important over the vostok site except during glacial extrema

temperature accumulation and ice sheet elevation in central greenland through the last deglacial transition we present a combined heat and ice flow model constrained by measurements of temperature in the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 borehole and by the gisp2 18o record and depth age scale which determines a history of temperature accumulation rate and ice sheet elevation for the past 50 000 years in central greenland important results are that the temperature increase from average glacial to holocene conditions was large approximately 15 c with a 20 c warming from late glacial to holocene that the average accumulation rate during the last glacial maximum between 15 and 30 kyr b p was 5 5 to 7 cm yr 1 approximately 25 of the modern accumulation rate that long term 500 1000 years averaged accumulation rate and temperature have been inversely correlated during the most recent 7 millennia of the holocene and that the greenland ice sheet probably thickened during the deglacial transition the inverse correlation of accumulation rate and temperature in the mid and late holocene suggests that the greenland ice sheet is more prone to volume reduction in a warmed climate than previously thought and demonstrates that accumulation rate is not a reliable proxy for temperature the elevation history of the ice sheet is poorly constrained by the model and independent evidence is needed we also present a simple estimate of the response time for thinning of the interior region of an ice sheet due to retreat of its margins this was approximately 1900 years for central greenland during deglaciation

paleoenvironmental implications of the insoluble microparticle record in the gisp2 greenland ice core during the rapidly changing climate of the pleistocene holocene transition oscillations in the time series of insoluble microparticle characteristics between 0 7 and 11 0 m in the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core reflect changes in environmental conditions in the northern hemisphere from 10 500 to 14 000 yr ago elevated values in microparticle number and mass especially during the younger dryas are related to northern hemisphere aridity and the subsequent increase in dust available for long range transport to greenland this scenario occurs with the colder climatic conditions that result from a more expanded spatially and temporally polar vortex peaks in mean grain size based on number mean number diameter are a proxy for increased strength in zonal winds westerlies highs in mean number diameter in the earlier part of the record often coincide with number and mass peaks reflecting the increased temperature and pressure gradients with an expanded polar vortex highs in mean grain size based on mass mean mass diameter reflect greater deposition of the coarser size fraction and thus are a proxy for increased storminess associated with better developed synoptic scale pressure systems in the northernmost atlantic region peaks in mean mass diameter often lead these other parameters by 100 200 yr suggesting an increase in storminess with the initial southward migration of the mean position of the polar front prior to full development of a more expanded polar vortex the general decline in number and mass trends decreased aridity with a contracting polar vortex together with increasing mean number diameter trends strengthening zonal winds following the maxima in the early younger dryas suggest an expansion of mid latitude circulation systems subtropical highs thereby maintaining latitudinal temperature and pressure gradients increased variability in mean mass diameter during the warm preboreal compared to the colder younger dryas may be a function of the greater seasonality during warmer climatic periods and thus more frequent storms associated with higher frequency oscillations in the position of the polar front with changing seasons and increased interannual variability in climate

the co2 concentration of air trapped in gisp2 ice from the last glacial maximum holocene transition measurements of the co2 concentration of air trapped in greenland ice sheet project two ice show an increase from approximately 190 ppm to 270 ppm during the 8000 years between the end of the last glacial maximum and the beginning of the holocene this increase is in agreement with other parallel records from both greenland and antarctica although the gisp2 data exhibit considerable variability over periods as small as 50 100 years and show that co2 can be affected by processes occurring within the ice after bubble formation the in situ reactions which contribute to the modification of the concentrations of paleoatmospheric co2 may include both co2 uptake as well as co2 production the existence of two major episodes of co2 enrichment in addition to the variability of the data prevents a precise determination of the progression of the increase in atmospheric co2 although the 80 ppm rise between 18 0 kybp and 10 4 kybp is evident these results strongly suggest that some intervals of the gisp2 co2 record must be interpreted in the context of the chemical composition of the ice and that records of atmospheric co2 in polar ice can be considered accurate only if the ice is either essentially carbonate free or contains abundant carbonate