Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0904-8484, Laepple, Thomas
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8108-7520, Landais, A., Langen, P. L., Larsen, L. B., Leuenberger, D., Leuenberger, M., Leuschen, C., Li, J., Lipenkov, V., Martinerie, P., Maselli, O. J., Masson-Delmotte, V., McConnell, J. R., Miller, Heinrich, Mini, O., Miyamoto, A., Montagnat-Rentier, M., Mulvaney, R., Muscheler, R., Paden, J., Orsi, A. J., Panton, C., Pattyn, F., Petit, J.-R., Pol, K., Popp, T., Possnert, G., Prié, F., Prokopiou, M., Quiquet, A., Rasmussen, S. O., Raynaud, D., Ren, J., Reutenauer, C., Ritz, C., Röckmann, T., Rosen, J. L., Rubino, M., Rybak, O., Samyn, D., Sapart, C. J., Schilt, A., Schmidt, A. M. Z., Schüpbach, S., Schwander, J., Seierstad, I., Severinghaus, J. P., Sheldon, S., Simonsen, S. B., Sjolte, J., Solgaard, A. M., Sowers, T., Sperlich, P., Steen-Larsen, H. C., Steffen, K., Steffensen, J. P., Steinhage, Daniel
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-9751, Stocker, T. F., Stowasser, C., Sturevik, A. S., Sturges, W. T., Sveinbjörnsdottir, A., Svensson, A., Tison, J.-L., Uetake, J., Vallelonga, P., van de Wal, R. S. W., van der Wel, G., Vaughn, B. H., Vinther, B., Waddington, E., Wegner, Anna, Weikusat, Ilka
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3023-6036, White, J. W. C., Wilhelms, Frank
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7688-3135, Winstrup, M., Witrant, E., Wolff, E. W., Xiao, C. and Zheng, J.
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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.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0904-8484, Laepple, Thomas
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8108-7520, Landais, A., Langen, P. L., Larsen, L. B., Leuenberger, D., Leuenberger, M., Leuschen, C., Li, J., Lipenkov, V., Martinerie, P., Maselli, O. J., Masson-Delmotte, V., McConnell, J. R., Miller, Heinrich, Mini, O., Miyamoto, A., Montagnat-Rentier, M., Mulvaney, R., Muscheler, R., Paden, J., Orsi, A. J., Panton, C., Pattyn, F., Petit, J.-R., Pol, K., Popp, T., Possnert, G., Prié, F., Prokopiou, M., Quiquet, A., Rasmussen, S. O., Raynaud, D., Ren, J., Reutenauer, C., Ritz, C., Röckmann, T., Rosen, J. L., Rubino, M., Rybak, O., Samyn, D., Sapart, C. J., Schilt, A., Schmidt, A. M. Z., Schüpbach, S., Schwander, J., Seierstad, I., Severinghaus, J. P., Sheldon, S., Simonsen, S. B., Sjolte, J., Solgaard, A. M., Sowers, T., Sperlich, P., Steen-Larsen, H. C., Steffen, K., Steffensen, J. P., Steinhage, Daniel
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-9751, Stocker, T. F., Stowasser, C., Sturevik, A. S., Sturges, W. T., Sveinbjörnsdottir, A., Svensson, A., Tison, J.-L., Uetake, J., Vallelonga, P., van de Wal, R. S. W., van der Wel, G., Vaughn, B. H., Vinther, B., Waddington, E., Wegner, Anna, Weikusat, Ilka
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3023-6036, White, J. W. C., Wilhelms, Frank
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7688-3135, Winstrup, M., Witrant, E., Wolff, E. W., Xiao, C. and Zheng, J.
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AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Permafrost Research
AWI Organizations > Climate Sciences > Paleo-climate Dynamics
