Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core

Abstract

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Observed NEEM records.
Figure 2: Reconstructed records from the NEEM ice core.
Figure 3: Disturbances of the deep NEEM ice.
Figure 4: Reconstruction of the temperature and elevation history.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wolff, E. W., Chappellaz, J., Blunier, T., Rasmussen, S. O. & Svensson, A. Millennial-scale variability during the last glacial: the ice core record. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 2828–2838 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Svensson, A. et al. A 60 000 year Greenland stratigraphic ice core chronology. Clim. Past 4, 47–57 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Andersen, K. K. et al. High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period. Nature 431, 147–151 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Barbante, C. et al. One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica. Nature 444, 195–198 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schilt, A. et al. Glacial–interglacial and millennial-scale variations in the atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration during the last 800,000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 182–192 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Capron, E. et al. Synchronising EDML and NorthGRIP ice cores using δ18O of atmospheric oxygen (δ18Oatm) and CH4 measurements over MIS5 (80–123 kyr). Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 222–234 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Steen-Larsen, H. C. et al. Understanding the climatic signal in the water stable isotope records from the NEEM shallow firn/ice cores in northwest Greenland. J. Geophys. Res. 116, D06108 10.1029/2010JD014311 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Buchardt, S. L., Clausen, H. B., Vinther, B. M. & Dahl-Jensen, D. Investigating the past and recent δ18O-accumulation relationship seen in Greenland ice cores. Clim. Past 8, 2053–2059 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Landais, A. et al. A tentative reconstruction of the last interglacial and glacial inception in Greenland based on new gas measurements in the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 4563 10.1029/2002jd003147 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Suwa, M., von Fischer, J. C., Bender, M. L., Landais, A. & Brook, E. J. Chronology reconstruction for the disturbed bottom section of the GISP2 and the GRIP ice cores: implications for Termination II in Greenland. J. Geophys. Res. 111, D02101 10.1029/2005JD006032 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Johnsen, S. J. et al. Oxygen isotope and palaeotemperature records from six Greenland ice-core stations: Camp Century, Dye-3, GRIP, GISP2, Renland and NorthGRIP. J. Quat. Sci. 16, 299–307 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ruth, U. et al. “EDML1”: a chronology for the EPICA deep ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, over the last 150 000 years. Clim. Past 3, 475–484 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Caillon, N., Jouzel, J., Severinghaus, J. P., Chappellaz, J. & Blunier, T. A novel method to study the phase relationship between Antarctic and Greenland climate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 1899 10.1029/2003GL017838 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Chappellaz, J. et al. Synchronous changes in atmospheric CH4 and Greenland climate between 40 and 8 kyr BP. Nature 366, 443–445 (1993)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Rodriguez-Morales, F. et al. Advanced multi-frequency radar instrumentation for polar research. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Rem. Sens. (in the press)

  16. Leuschen, C. et al. The CReSIS radar suite for measurements of the ice sheets and sea ice during Operation Ice Bridge. Am. Geophys. Un. Fall Meet., abstr. C44A-02 (2010)

  17. Buchardt, S. L. & Dahl-Jensen, D. At what depth is the Eemian layer expected to be found at NEEM? Ann. Glaciol. 48, 100–102 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Dahl-Jensen, D. & Gundestrup, N. in The Physical Basis of Ice Sheet Modelling (ed. Waddington, E. ) 31–43 (Proc. Vancouver Symp., August 1987, IAHS Publ. No. 170, 1987)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Dahl-Jensen, D. & Gundestrup, N. S. Derivation of flow-law properties from bore-hole tilt data: discussion of the Dye 3, Camp Century, and Byrd Station bore-hole results. Ann. Glaciol. 12, 200–201 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Azuma, N. & Higashi, A. Mechanical properties of Dye 3 Greenland deep ice cores. Ann. Glaciol. 5, 1–8 (1984)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Jacka, T. H. Laboratory studies on relationships between ice crystal size and flow rate. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 10, 31–42 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Goujon, C., Barnola, J.-M. & Ritz, C. Modeling the densification of polar firn including heat diffusion: application to close-off characteristics and gas isotopic fractionation for Antarctica and Greenland sites. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 4792 10.1029/2002JD003319 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Severinghaus, J. P., Grachev, A. & Battle, M. Thermal fractionation of air in polar firn by seasonal temperature gradients. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 2, 1048 10.1029/2000GC000146 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. Abrupt change of Antarctic moisture origin at the end of Termination II. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 12091–12094 (2010)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Stocker, T. F. & Johnsen, S. J. A minimum thermodynamic model for the bipolar seesaw. Paleoceanography 18, 1087 10.1029/2003PA000920 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Pedro, J. B. et al. The last deglaciation: timing the bipolar seesaw. Clim. Past 7, 671–683 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Stenni, B. et al. Expression of the bipolar see-saw in Antarctic climate records during the last deglaciation. Nature Geosci. 4, 46–49 (2011)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Raynaud, D. et al. The local insolation signature of air content in Antarctic ice. A new step toward an absolute dating of ice records. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 261, 337–349 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Berger, A., Loutre, M. F. & Laskar, J. Stability of the astronomical frequencies over the Earth’s history for paleoclimate studies. Science 255, 560–566 (1992)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. van de Berg, W. J., van den Broeke, M., Ettema, J., van Meijgaard, E. & Kaspar, F. Significant contribution of insolation to Eemian melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Nature Geosci. 4, 679–683 (2011)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Raynaud, D., Chappellaz, J., Ritz, C. & Martinerie, P. Air content along the Greenland Ice Core Project core: a record of surface climatic parameters and elevation in central Greenland. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 26607–26613 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Vinther, B. M. et al. Holocene thinning of the Greenland ice sheet. Nature 461, 385–388 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Bamber, J. L., Layberry, R. L. & Gogineni, S. A new ice thickness and bed data set for the Greenland ice sheet 1. Measurement, data reduction, and errors. J. Geophys. Res. D 106, 33773–33780 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Huybrechts, P., Rybak, O., Pattyn, F., Ruth, U. & Steinhage, D. Ice thinning, upstream advection, and non-climatic biases for the upper 89% of the EDML ice core from a nested model of the Antarctic ice sheet. Clim. Past 3, 577–589 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Buchardt, S. L. Basal Melting and Eemian Ice Along the Main Ice Ridge in Northern Greenland. Thesis, Univ. Copenhagen (2009); available at http://www.iceandclimate.nbi.ku.dk/publications/theses/PhD_Buchardt.pdf/.

  36. Otto-Bliesner, B. L. et al. Simulating arctic climate warmth and icefield retreat in the last interglaciation. Science 311, 1751–1753 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Lunt, D. J. et al. A multi-model assessment of last interglacial temperatures. Clim. Past Discuss. 8, 3657–3691 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. Axford, Y. et al. Chironomids record terrestrial temperature changes throughout Arctic interglacials of the past 200,000 yr. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 123, 1275–1287 (2011)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Francis, D. R., Wolfe, A. P., Walker, I. R. & Miller, G. F. Interglacial and Holocene temperature reconstructions based on midge remains in sediments of two lakes from Baffin Island, Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 236, 107–124 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Turney, C. S. M. & Jones, R. T. Does the Agulhas Current amplify global temperatures during super-interglacials? J. Quat. Sci. 25, 839–843 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Born, A. & Nisancioglu, K. H. Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglacial. Cryosphere Discuss. 5, 3517–3539 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. Sensitivity of interglacial Greenland temperature and δ18O: ice core data, orbital and increased CO2 climate simulations. Clim. Past 7, 1041–1059 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. EPICA Dome C record of glacial and interglacial intensities. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 113–128 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. Kopp, R. E., Simons, F. J., Mitrovica, J. X., Maloof, A. C. & Oppenheimer, M. Probabilistic assessment of sea level during the last interglacial stage. Nature 462, 863–867 (2009)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Dutton, A. & Lambeck, K. Ice volume and sea level during the last interglacial. Science 337, 216–219 (2012)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Dahl-Jensen, D. et al. in Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA): Climate Change and the Cryosphere (ed. AMAP) Ch. 8 (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, 2011)

  47. Bradley, S. L., Siddall, M., Milne, G. A., Masson-Delmotte, V. & Wolff, E. Where might we find evidence of a Last Interglacial West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse in Antarctic ice core records? Glob. Planet. Change 88–89, 64–75 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Bell, R. E. et al. Widespread persistent thickening of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet by freezing from the base. Science 331, 1592–1595 (2011)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Raynaud, D. & Lebel, B. Total gas content and surface elevation of polar ice sheets. Nature 281, 289–291 (1979)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. Martinerie, P. et al. Air content paleo record in the Vostok ice core (Antarctica): a mixed record of climatic and glaciological parameters. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 10565–10576 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the many persons involved in logistics, drill developments and drilling, and ice-core processing and analysis in the field and in our laboratories. NEEM is directed and organized by the Centre of Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute and US NSF, Office of Polar Programs. It is supported by funding agencies and institutions in Belgium (FNRS-CFB and FWO), Canada (NRCan/GSC), China (CAS), Denmark (FIST), France (IPEV, CNRS/INSU, CEA and ANR), Germany (AWI), Iceland (RannIs), Japan (NIPR), South Korea (KOPRI), The Netherlands (NWO/ALW), Sweden (VR), Switzerland (SNF), the United Kingdom (NERC) and the USA (US NSF, Office of Polar Programs) and the EU Seventh Framework programmes Past4Future and WaterundertheIce. NASA is acknowledged for the OIB 2011 programme.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Consortia

Contributions

All authors contributed to the discussions that led to the results presented in the paper. M.R.A., A.-M.B., C.B., K. Keegan, P.M., S.B.S. and E.W. performed analysis and interpretation of the firn processes; A.A., D.B.-C., M. Baumgartner, M. Bigler, T. Blunier, E.J.B., E.C., J. Chappellaz, J. Chung, O.E., H.F., L.G.F., G.G., V.G., K.G.-A., M.H., Y.I., T.J., T.R.J., J.J., K. Kawamura, E.K., H.A.K., T.K., A.L., D.L., V.L., O.J.M., V.M.-D., J.R.M., O.M., R. Muscheler, J.-R.P., K.P., G.P., T.P., M.P., D.R., C.R., T.R., J.L.R., M.R., C.J.S., A.S., J.S., S. Schüpbach, J. P. Severinghaus, T.S., P.S., T.F.S., C.S., W.T.S., A.S.S., A. Sveinbjörnsdottir, A. Svensson, J.U., P.V., G.v.d.W., B.H.V., B.V., A.W. and F.W. were involved in the data measurements described in detail in Supplementary Information; N.A., T. Binder, S.K., A.M., M.M.-R., D.S., E.W. and I.W. contributed to the understanding of ice rheology; J.C.B. and A.M.Z.S. investigated the biology of the ice cores; S.L.B., P.H., M.K., F.P., A.Q., C.R., O.R., A.M.S. and R.S.W.v.d.W. produced ice-sheet models; H.B.C., S.M.D., D.A.F., A.G., H.G., M.G., S.J.J., P.K., A.L., T.L., M.L., S.O.R., I.S., J. P. Steffensen and M.W. participated in the dating of the NEEM ice core; I.C., P.D., P.L.L. and J.S. produced atmosphere models; D.D.-J. analysed the data; J.W.C.W. and E.W.W. put the discussion into the text; S.G., N.B.K., C.L., J.L., J.P., C. P. and D.S. participated in obtaining and interpreting the RES images; S.B.H. and S.S. were the chief mechanic and electronic engineer on the deep ice-core drill; M.G., S.H., S.D.H., H.M., R. Mulvaney, J.R. and C.X. participated in the planning of the NEEM project; L.B.L. and C.S.H. used a GPS net to determine the surface velocities; E.C., A.L., A.J.O., F.P., H.C.S.-L., K.S. and J.Z. participated in measuring temperatures and isotopes in the firn and air; J.-L.T. was involved in the interpretation of the basal ice.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Dahl-Jensen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Text and Data (see Content for details), Supplementary Figures 1-10, Supplementary Tables 1-2 and additional references. (PDF 1376 kb)

Supplementary Data

This file contains the data used in the paper. It contains 7 separate sheets, each of which is referred to in the Supplementary Information file. (XLS 333 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

NEEM community members. Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core. Nature 493, 489–494 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11789

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11789

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing