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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres

 

Keywords

  • paleoclimate
  • ice cores
  • glacial warming

Index Terms

  • Cryosphere: Ice cores
  • Global Change: Abrupt/rapid climate change
  • Atmospheric Processes: Paleoclimatology
  • Atmospheric Processes: Ocean/atmosphere interactions
  • Atmospheric Processes: Climate change and variability
Abstract
Cited By (2)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 114, D08102, 9 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2008JD011215

Anatomy of a Dansgaard‐Oeschger warming transition: High‐resolution analysis of the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core

Elizabeth R. Thomas

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK

Eric W. Wolff

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK

Robert Mulvaney

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK

Sigfus J. Johnsen

Center for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics, and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jorgen P. Steffensen

Center for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics, and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Carol Arrowsmith

NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK

Large and abrupt temperature oscillations during the last glacial period, known as Dansgaard‐Oeschger (DO) events, are clearly observed in the Greenland ice core record. Here we present a new high‐resolution chemical (2 mm) and stable isotope (20 mm) record from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) ice core at the onset of one of the most prominent DO events of the last glacial, DO‐8, observed ∼38,000 years ago. The unique, subannual‐resolution NGRIP record provides a true sequence of change during a DO warming with detailed annual layer counting of very high depth resolution geochemical measurements used to determine the exact duration of the transition. The continental ions, indicative of long‐range atmospheric loading and dustiness from East Asia, are the first to change, followed by the snow accumulation, the moisture source conditions, and finally the atmospheric temperature in Greenland. The sequence of events shows that atmospheric and oceanic source and circulation changes preceded the DO warming by several years.

Received 30 September 2008; accepted 18 February 2009; published 16 April 2009.

Citation: Thomas, E. R., E. W. Wolff, R. Mulvaney, S. J. Johnsen, J. P. Steffensen, and C. Arrowsmith (2009), Anatomy of a Dansgaard‐Oeschger warming transition: High‐resolution analysis of the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D08102, doi:10.1029/2008JD011215.

Cited By

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