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High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period

Nature volume 431, pages 147–151 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Two deep ice cores from central Greenland, drilled in the 1990s, have played a key role in climate reconstructions of the Northern Hemisphere, but the oldest sections of the cores were disturbed in chronology owing to ice folding near the bedrock. Here we present an undisturbed climate record from a North Greenland ice core, which extends back to 123,000 years before the present, within the last interglacial period. The oxygen isotopes in the ice imply that climate was stable during the last interglacial period, with temperatures 5 °C warmer than today. We find unexpectedly large temperature differences between our new record from northern Greenland and the undisturbed sections of the cores from central Greenland, suggesting that the extent of ice in the Northern Hemisphere modulated the latitudinal temperature gradients in Greenland. This record shows a slow decline in temperatures that marked the initiation of the last glacial period. Our record reveals a hitherto unrecognized warm period initiated by an abrupt climate warming about 115,000 years ago, before glacial conditions were fully developed. This event does not appear to have an immediate Antarctic counterpart, suggesting that the climate see-saw between the hemispheres (which dominated the last glacial period) was not operating at this time.

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Figure 1: Map of Greenland, showing the locations of the deep ice core drilling sites.
Figure 2: The NGRIP stable oxygen isotopic record compared to the GRIP record.
Figure 3: Comparison of ice core records from NGRIP and Vostok for NGRIP depths 2,830 to 3,085 m.
Figure 4: The NGRIP isotopic profile from the Supplementary Information (a) compared with the planktonic isotopes in the Iberian margin sediment core MD95-202429 (b).

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Acknowledgements

NGRIP is directed and organized by the Department of Geophysics at the Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen. It is supported by funding agencies in Denmark (SNF), Belgium (FNRS-CFB), France (IPEV and INSU/CNRS), Germany (AWI), Iceland (RannIs), Japan (MEXT), Sweden (SPRS), Switzerland (SNF) and the USA (NSF, Office of Polar Programs).

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to D.D.-J. (ddj@gfy.ku.dk) or S.J.J. (sigfus@gfy.ku.dk).

Author information

Author notes

  1. N. S. Gundestrup: Deceased

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100, Copenhagen OE, Denmark

    K. K. Andersen, H. B. Clausen, D. Dahl-Jensen, N. S. Gundestrup, C. S. Hvidberg, S. J. Johnsen, S. O. Rasmussen, M.-L. Siggard-Andersen, J. P. Steffensen & A. Svensson

  2. Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka-machi, Nagaoka, 940-2188, Japan

    N. Azuma & M. Takata

  3. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (CNRS), BP 96, 38402, St Martin d'Héres Cedex, France

    J.-M. Barnola, J. Chappellaz & D. Raynaud

  4. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Switzerland

    M. Bigler, J. Flückiger, C. Huber, M. Leuenberger, R. Rothlisberger, J. Schwander & T. Stocker

  5. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Rte 9W, PO Box 1000, Palisades, New York, 10964-8000, USA

    P. Biscaye

  6. Institute Pierre Simon Laplace/ Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR CEA-CNRS, CE Saclay, Omme des Merisiers, 91191, Gir-Sur-Yvette, France

    N. Caillon, J. Jouzel, A. Landais & V. Masson-Delmotte

  7. Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Postfach 120161, D-27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    H. Fischer, D. Fritzsche, S. Kipfstuhl, H. Miller, U. Ruth & F. Wilhelms

  8. National Institute of Polar Research, Kaga 1-9-10, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8515, Japan

    Y. Fujii, K. Goto-Azuma, H. Motoyama & O. Watanabe

  9. Nordic Volcanological Institute, Grensásvegur 50, 108, Reykjavik, Iceland

    K. Grønvold

  10. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    M. Hansson & U. Jonsell

  11. Département des Sciences de la terre et de l'Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 160/03, 50 avenue FD, Roosevelt, B1050, Brussels, Belgium

    R. Lorrain, D. Samyn & J.-L. Tison

  12. Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi nishi-iru, 335 Takashima-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-0878, Japan

    H. Narita

  13. INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Campus Box 450, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0450, USA

    T. Popp & J. W. C. White

  14. Kitami Institute of Technology, Koencho 165, Kitami, Hokkaido, 090-8507, Japan

    H. Shoji

  15. Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans, Dunhagi, 3, Iceland

    A. E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir

  16. National Energy Authority, Grensásvegur 9, IS-108, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Th. Thorsteinsson

Consortia

North Greenland Ice Core Project members

  • K. K. Andersen
  • , N. Azuma
  • , J.-M. Barnola
  • , M. Bigler
  • , P. Biscaye
  • , N. Caillon
  • , J. Chappellaz
  • , H. B. Clausen
  • , D. Dahl-Jensen
  • , H. Fischer
  • , J. Flückiger
  • , D. Fritzsche
  • , Y. Fujii
  • , K. Goto-Azuma
  • , K. Grønvold
  • , N. S. Gundestrup
  • , M. Hansson
  • , C. Huber
  • , C. S. Hvidberg
  • , S. J. Johnsen
  • , U. Jonsell
  • , J. Jouzel
  • , S. Kipfstuhl
  • , A. Landais
  • , M. Leuenberger
  • , R. Lorrain
  • , V. Masson-Delmotte
  • , H. Miller
  • , H. Motoyama
  • , H. Narita
  • , T. Popp
  • , S. O. Rasmussen
  • , D. Raynaud
  • , R. Rothlisberger
  • , U. Ruth
  • , D. Samyn
  • , J. Schwander
  • , H. Shoji
  • , M.-L. Siggard-Andersen
  • , J. P. Steffensen
  • , T. Stocker
  • , A. E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir
  • , A. Svensson
  • , M. Takata
  • , J.-L. Tison
  • , Th. Thorsteinsson
  • , O. Watanabe
  • , F. Wilhelms
  •  & J. W. C. White

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

In this file we list the NGRIP oxygen 18 values as 50 year mean values using the same preliminary age scale as in Figure 2c of the accompanying paper. (XLS 270 kb)

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North Greenland Ice Core Project members. High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period. Nature 431, 147–151 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02805

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