Abrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event

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dc.contributor.authorAlley, R. B.
dc.contributor.authorMeeset, D. A.
dc.contributor.authorShuman, Christopher
dc.contributor.authorGowt, A. J.
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, K. C.
dc.contributor.authorGrootes, P. M.
dc.contributor.authorWhite, J. W. C.
dc.contributor.authorRam, M.
dc.contributor.authorWaddington, E. D.
dc.contributor.authorMayewski, P. A.
dc.contributor.authorZielinski, G. A.
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-22T14:58:13Z
dc.date.available2022-02-22T14:58:13Z
dc.date.issued1993-04-08
dc.description.abstractTHE warming at the end of the last glaciation was characterized by a series of abrupt returns to glacial climate, the best-known of which is the Younger Dryas event1. Despite much study of the causes of this event and the mechanisms by which it ended, many questions remain unresolved1. Oxygen isotope data from Greenland ice cores²⁻⁴ suggest that the Younger Dryas ended abruptly, over a period of about 50 years; dust concentrations²,⁴ in these cores show an even more rapid transition (≲20 years). This extremely short timescale places severe constraints on the mechanisms underlying the transition. But dust concentrations can reflect subtle changes in atmospheric circulation, which need not be associated with a large change in climate. Here we present results from a new Greenland ice core (GISP2) showing that snow accumulation doubled rapidly from the Younger Dryas event to the subsequent Preboreal interval, possibly in one to three years. We also find that the accumulation-rate change from the Oldest Dryas to the Bø11ing/Allerød warm period was large and abrupt. The extreme rapidity of these changes in a variable that directly represents regional climate implies that the events at the end of the last glaciation may have been responses to some kind of threshold or trigger in the North Atlantic climate system.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe thank the GISP2 Science Management Office, the Polar Ice Coring Office, the U.S. 109th Air National Guard, and numerous GISP2 colleagues for assistance, R. G. Fairbanks and W. Broeck.er for helpful suggestions, J. Sloan for figure preparation, and the U.S. NSF Division of Polar Programs for financial support.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.nature.com/articles/362527a0en_US
dc.format.extent3 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m26vgy-bto8
dc.identifier.citationAlley, R. B. et al. Abrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event. Nature 362 (Apr. 8, 1993) 362, p. 527-529.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/362527a0
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/24307
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherNatureen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.en_US
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleAbrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas eventen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9606-767Xen_US

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