The Holocene-Younger Dryas Transition Recorded at Summit, Greenland

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Taylor, Kendrick C., Mayewski, Paul A., Alley, R. B., Brook, E. J., Gow, Anthony J., Grootes, Pieter M., Meese, Debra A., Saltzman, E. S., Severinghaus, J. P., Twickler, Mark S., White, J. W. C., Whitlow, Sallie I., Zielinski, G. A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository 1997
• Subjects: Dye 3; Dye-3; Greenland
• Online Access: https://scholars.unh.edu/faculty_pubs/352; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.278.5339.825; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.278.5339.825

Analysis of ice from Dye-3, Greenland, has demonstrated that the transition between the Younger Dryas and Holocene climate periods occurred over a 40-year period. A near annually resolved, multiparameter record of the transition recorded in the GISP2 core from Summit, Greenland, shows that most of the transition occurred in a series of steps with durations of about 5 years. Some climate proxies associated with mid-latitude sources appear to have changed about 15 years before climate proxies associated with more northern regions. Changes in atmospheric water vapor are likely to have played a large role in the climate transition.