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Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core

Dahl-Jensen, D. ; Albert, M. R. ; Aldahan, A. ; Azuma, N. ; Balslev-Clausen, D. ; Baumgartner, M. ; Berggren, A. -M. ; Bigler, M. ; Binder, T. and Blunier, T. , et al. (2013) In Nature 493(7433). p.489-494
Abstract
Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland ice sheet to the warmer-than-present climate of the Eemian has thus remained unclear. Here we present the new North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling ('NEEM') ice core and show only a modest ice-sheet response to the strong warming in the early Eemian. We reconstructed the Eemian record from folded ice using globally homogeneous parameters known from dated Greenland and Antarctic ice-core records. On the basis of water stable isotopes, NEEM surface temperatures after the onset of the Eemian (126,000 years ago) peaked at 8 +/- 4 degrees Celsius above the mean of... (More)
Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland ice sheet to the warmer-than-present climate of the Eemian has thus remained unclear. Here we present the new North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling ('NEEM') ice core and show only a modest ice-sheet response to the strong warming in the early Eemian. We reconstructed the Eemian record from folded ice using globally homogeneous parameters known from dated Greenland and Antarctic ice-core records. On the basis of water stable isotopes, NEEM surface temperatures after the onset of the Eemian (126,000 years ago) peaked at 8 +/- 4 degrees Celsius above the mean of the past millennium, followed by a gradual cooling that was probably driven by the decreasing summer insolation. Between 128,000 and 122,000 years ago, the thickness of the northwest Greenland ice sheet decreased by 400 +/- 250 metres, reaching surface elevations 122,000 years ago of 130 +/- 300 metres lower than the present. Extensive surface melt occurred at the NEEM site during the Eemian, a phenomenon witnessed when melt layers formed again at NEEM during the exceptional heat of July 2012. With additional warming, surface melt might become more common in the future. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature
volume
493
issue
7433
pages
489 - 494
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • wos:000313871400029
  • scopus:84872976669
  • pmid:23344358
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/nature11789
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c6f3e7b3-01a3-41f8-b006-7d804281c589 (old id 3470738)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:10:07
date last changed
2022-04-28 07:44:05
@article{c6f3e7b3-01a3-41f8-b006-7d804281c589,
  abstract     = {{Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland ice sheet to the warmer-than-present climate of the Eemian has thus remained unclear. Here we present the new North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling ('NEEM') ice core and show only a modest ice-sheet response to the strong warming in the early Eemian. We reconstructed the Eemian record from folded ice using globally homogeneous parameters known from dated Greenland and Antarctic ice-core records. On the basis of water stable isotopes, NEEM surface temperatures after the onset of the Eemian (126,000 years ago) peaked at 8 +/- 4 degrees Celsius above the mean of the past millennium, followed by a gradual cooling that was probably driven by the decreasing summer insolation. Between 128,000 and 122,000 years ago, the thickness of the northwest Greenland ice sheet decreased by 400 +/- 250 metres, reaching surface elevations 122,000 years ago of 130 +/- 300 metres lower than the present. Extensive surface melt occurred at the NEEM site during the Eemian, a phenomenon witnessed when melt layers formed again at NEEM during the exceptional heat of July 2012. With additional warming, surface melt might become more common in the future.}},
  author       = {{Dahl-Jensen, D. and Albert, M. R. and Aldahan, A. and Azuma, N. and Balslev-Clausen, D. and Baumgartner, M. and Berggren, A. -M. and Bigler, M. and Binder, T. and Blunier, T. and Bourgeois, J. C. and Brook, E. J. and Buchardt, S. L. and Buizert, C. and Capron, E. and Chappellaz, J. and Chung, J. and Clausen, H. B. and Cvijanovic, I. and Davies, S. M. and Ditlevsen, P. and Eicher, O. and Fischer, H. and Fisher, D. A. and Fleet, L. G. and Gfeller, G. and Gkinis, V. and Gogineni, S. and Goto-Azuma, K. and Grinsted, A. and Gudlaugsdottir, H. and Guillevic, M. and Hansen, S. B. and Hansson, M. and Hirabayashi, M. and Hong, S. and Hur, S. D. and Huybrechts, P. and Hvidberg, C. S. and Iizuka, Y. and Jenk, T. and Johnsen, S. J. and Jones, T. R. and Jouzel, J. and Karlsson, N. B. and Kawamura, K. and Keegan, K. and Kettner, E. and Kipfstuhl, S. and Kjaer, H. A. and Koutnik, M. and Kuramoto, T. and Koehler, P. and Laepple, T. and Landais, A. and Langen, P. L. and Larsen, L. B. and Leuenberger, D. and Leuenberger, M. and Leuschen, C. and Li, J. and Lipenkov, V. and Martinerie, P. and Maselli, O. J. and Masson-Delmotte, V. and McConnell, J. R. and Miller, H. and Mini, O. and Miyamoto, A. and Montagnat-Rentier, M. and Mulvaney, R. and Muscheler, Raimund and Orsi, A. J. and Paden, J. and Panton, C. and Pattyn, F. and Petit, J. -R. and Pol, K. and Popp, T. and Possnert, G. and Prie, F. and Prokopiou, M. and Quiquet, A. and Rasmussen, S. O. and Raynaud, D. and Ren, J. and Reutenauer, C. and Ritz, C. and Rockmann, T. and Rosen, J. L. and Rubino, M. and Rybak, O. and Samyn, D. and Sapart, C. J. and Schilt, A. and Schmidt, A. M. Z. and Schwander, J. and Schuepbach, S. and Seierstad, I. and Severinghaus, J. P. and Sheldon, S. and Simonsen, S. B. and Sjolte, Jesper and Solgaard, A. M. and Sowers, T. and Sperlich, P. and Steen-Larsen, H. C. and Steffen, K. and Steffensen, J. P. and Steinhage, D. and Stocker, T. F. and Stowasser, C. and Sturevik, A. S. and Sturges, W. T. and Sveinbjornsdottir, A. and Svensson, A. and Tison, J. -L. and Uetake, J. and Vallelonga, P. and van de Wal, R. S. W. and van der Wel, G. and Vaughn, B. H. and Vinther, B. and Waddington, E. and Wegner, A. and Weikusat, I. and White, J. W. C. and Wilhelms, F. and Winstrup, M. and Witrant, E. and Wolff, E. W. and Xiao, C. and Zheng, J.}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7433}},
  pages        = {{489--494}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11789}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/nature11789}},
  volume       = {{493}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}