The Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition

Abstract

The Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition is one of the most intensively studied periods in Earth History. The rapid climate and environmental changes that occurred during the transition can be used to test ideas about the functioning of our climate system. The stratigraphy of this period has been thoroughly investigated and, in particular, the recently proposed event stratigraphy for the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition based on the Greenland ice core records serves as a tool for synchronisation of records from the ice, marine and terrestrial environment. The causes behind the rapid climate changes are most likely to have been changes in ocean circulation, partly triggered by ice-melting during deglaciation. While the picture for the North Atlantic region is becoming more and more clear, complex patterns of change over the globe remain to be studied. The functioning of the complex feed-back mechanisms requires an interdisciplinary approach between geoscientists from different disciplines.