Extent and Dynamics of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (65,000–25,000 yr B.P.)

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Arnold, Neil S., van Andel, Tjeerd H., Valen, Vidar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2002
• Subjects: Ice Sheet; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2298; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922987?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589401922987?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400010553

Abstract The climate of the middle Weichselian Glaciation, Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (OIS-3), a relatively mild period compared to the glacial maxima of OIS-4 and OIS-2, consisted of long warm interstades punctuated by brief cold excursions that grew colder and more frequent with time. The OIS-4 ice sheet is generally thought to have persisted throughout OIS-3, but evidence from dated OIS-3 interstadial deposits suggests that it was swiftly reduced to small remnants which only briefly expanded and retreated. Only 30,000 years ago the deteriorating climate initiated a sustained ice advance leading toward the final glacial maximum of OIS-2. Dynamic ice-sheet models support the existence of a prolonged ice-free interval during OIS-3 induced, perhaps, by low precipitation due to extensive sea-ice cover offshore.