Precise timing and characterization of abrupt climate change 8200 years ago from air trapped in polar ice

Precise timing and characterization of abrupt climate change 8200 years  ago from air trapped in polar ice

Description

How fast and how much climate can change has significant implications for concerns about future climate changes and their potential impacts on society. An abrupt climate change 8200 years ago (8.2 ka event) provides a test case to understand possible future climatic variability. Here, methane concentration (taken as an indicator for terrestrial hydrology) and nitrogen isotopes (Greenland temperature) in trapped air in a Greenland ice core (GISP2) are employed to scrutinize the evolution of the 8.2 ka event. The synchronous change in methane and nitrogen implies that the 8.2 ka event was a synchronous event (within 74 years) at a hemispheric scale, as indicated by recent climate model results.

Information

Author(s)
Takuro Kobashi, Jeffrey P Severinghaus, Edward J Brook, Jean-Marc Barnola, Alexi M Grachev
Publisher
Quaternary Science Reviews
Date / journal vol no.
2007 / Issue 26
Pages
11

References