Asynchrony of Antarctic and Greenland climate change during the last glacial period

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Blunier, T., Chappellaz, J., Schwander, J., Dällenbach, A., Stauffer, B, Stocker, T. F., Raynaud, D., Jouzel, J., Clausen, H., Hammer, C., Johnsen, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Macmillan Journals Ltd. 1998
• Subjects: 530 Physics; Antarctic; Greenland; Antarc*; Antarctica; Dansgaard-Oeschger events
• Online Access: https://boris.unibe.ch/158231/1/blunier98nat.pdf; https://boris.unibe.ch/158231/

A central issue in climate dynamics is to understand how the Northern and Southern hemispheres are coupled during climate events. The strongest of the fast temperature changes observed in Greenland (so-called Dansgaard–Oeschger events) during the last glaciation have an analogue in the temperature record from Antarctica. A comparison of the global atmospheric concentration of methane as recorded in ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland permits a determination of the phase relationship (in leads or lags) of these temperature variations. Greenland warming events around 36 and 45 kyr before present lag their Antarctic counterpart by more than 1 kyr. On average, Antarctic climate change leads that of Greenland by 1–2.5 kyr over the period 47–23 kyr before present.