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Climate correlations between Greenland and Antarctica during the past 100,000 years

Nature volume 372, pages 663–666 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

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 δ18O 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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, 02881, USA

    Michael Bender, Mary-Lynn Dickson & Joseph Orchardo

  2. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York, 10964, USA

    Todd Sowers

  3. Department of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98105, USA

    Pieter Grootes

  4. Glacier Research Group, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, 03824, USA

    Paul A. Mayewski

  5. Cold Regions of Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA

    Debra A. Meese

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  1. Michael Bender
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  5. Pieter Grootes
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Bender, M., Sowers, T., Dickson, ML. et al. Climate correlations between Greenland and Antarctica during the past 100,000 years. Nature 372, 663–666 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/372663a0

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