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Timing of abrupt climate change at the end of the Younger Dryas interval from thermally fractionated gases in polar ice

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey P. Severinghaus

    (Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island)

  • Todd Sowers

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • Edward J. Brook

    (Washington State University)

  • Richard B. Alley

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • Michael L. Bender

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

Rapid temperature change fractionates gas isotopes in unconsolidated snow, producing a signal that is preserved in trapped air bubbles as the snow forms ice. The fractionation of nitrogen and argon isotopes at the end of the Younger Dryas cold interval, recorded in Greenland ice, demonstrates that warming at this time was abrupt. This warming coincides with the onset of a prominent rise in atmospheric methane concentration, indicating that the climate change was synchronous (within a few decades) over a region of at least hemispheric extent, and providing constraints on previously proposed mechanisms of climate change at this time. The depth of the nitrogen-isotope signal relative to the depth of the climate change recorded in the ice matrix indicates that, during the Younger Dryas, the summit of Greenland was 15 ± 3 °C colder than today.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey P. Severinghaus & Todd Sowers & Edward J. Brook & Richard B. Alley & Michael L. Bender, 1998. "Timing of abrupt climate change at the end of the Younger Dryas interval from thermally fractionated gases in polar ice," Nature, Nature, vol. 391(6663), pages 141-146, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:391:y:1998:i:6663:d:10.1038_34346
    DOI: 10.1038/34346
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    Cited by:

    1. James A. Menking & Sarah A. Shackleton & Thomas K. Bauska & Aron M. Buffen & Edward J. Brook & Stephen Barker & Jeffrey P. Severinghaus & Michael N. Dyonisius & Vasilii V. Petrenko, 2022. "Multiple carbon cycle mechanisms associated with the glaciation of Marine Isotope Stage 4," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

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