Abrupt climate changes during the Last Glacial Period, some 115,000 to 11,700 years ago, happened at the same time across a region extending from the Arctic to the Southern Hemisphere subtropics, new research has revealed.
The study, led by University of Melbourne PhD student Ellen Corrick and published today in the journal Science, found that rapid warming events over Greenland were linked to simultaneous temperature increases across continental Europe, and changes in rainfall in the Asian and South American monsoon regions.
“Some of the largest and most abrupt climate changes in Earth’s geological recent past occurred during the Last Glacial Period, a cold interval that extended between 115,000 and 11,700 years ago,” Ms Corrick said.
Greenland ice cores recorded more than 25 abrupt warming episodes during this period. These so called ‘Dansgaard-Oeschger events’ were associated with increases in air temperature over Greenland of up to 16°Celsius,sometimes in a matter of a few decades.
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Image via Ellen Corrick.