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Younger Dryas Oscillation, Global Evidence

Chapter · January 2013

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53643-3.00016-9

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 QUAT 00134

a0005 Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation

S Björck, Geobiosphere Science Centre, Lund
University, Lund, Sweden
ª 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Younger Dryas, were designated Nordic late-glacial
chronozones, while the cold period preceding the first
late-glacial warming and the Bølling Chronozone
was often referred to as the Oldest Dryas stadial.
Based on a set of Scandinavian 14C records the age
of the Younger Dryas Chronozone was set to

F
11,000–10,000 14C years before present (BP).
s0005 Introduction However, this Nordic nomenclature was soon to

OO
become of global usage, although the rather detailed
p0005 A thorough review of the global Younger Dryas
climatostratigraphy upon which it was based, was at
oscillation is a difficult task and not possible to com-
that time rarely found outside Europe. The research
pletely cover in this chapter. The approach taken here
history of the late-glacial zones/periods is summar-
is one of many possible approaches to this topic:
ized in Björck, et al. (1998), who also suggested that
namely, a terrestrial geological one. This is, however,

PR
the often inconsistent stratigraphic nomenclature of
adequate since the original identification, naming,
the late-glacial oscillations, including Younger
and documentation of the Younger Dryas event was
carried out by Scandinavian Quaternary terrestrial
geologists and palaeobotanists. In addition, the
Younger Dryas is still probably best manifested by
an often distinct lithologic change in lacustrine
records of western Europe (Figure 1).
T
RS
p0010 The concept that the late-glacial interval ended
with a distinct cold period originates from palaeobo-
tanical and lithostratigraphic studies of Swedish and
Danish bog and lake sites, such as the Allerød clay pit
in Denmark. The term ‘Dryas’ refers to the occasion-
FI

ally abundant finds of Dryas octopetala (Mountain

Avens) leaves in these often minerogenic-rich lake
sediments. The prefix ‘Younger’ stems from the
insight that the original ‘Dryas’ period was preceded
R

by a warmer stage (Allerød), which in turn was

underlain by sediments implying at least another
cold period. With the onset of pollen analysis in
E

1916, the later refining of pollen analytical techni-

ques and a steadily growing number of pollen dia-
VI

grams it was obvious that the Younger Dryas

represented a distinct vegetational setback in large
parts of Europe, and during a time when a general
SE

glacial–interglacial plant succession and immigration

took place. It was generally interpreted as an effect of
a sudden decrease in (annual) temperature, unfavor-
able for the previously rapidly spreading forest vege-
EL

tation. The cooling favored the expansion of cold-

tolerant, light-demanding plants, and led to glacial
advances and a lowering of the equilibrium line alti-
tude (ELA). This is clearly documented in, for exam-
ple, Norway, Sweden, and Finland by the Ra-Middle
Swedish endmoraines–Salpausselkä moraine system,
by glacier advances in the Alps, and reglaciation in
ice-free areas such as the northern British Isles, Faroe
Islands, and southern Sweden.
p0015 When carbon-14 (14C) dating became a general
dating tool, two of the Dryas periods, the Older and
Figure 1 A section in a peat-bog in Schleswig-Holstein, north- f0005
ern Germany, dug out by Hartmut Usinger in Kiel. The thick light
grayish unit is a lacustrine sediment, clay gyttja, formed during the
Younger Dryas oscillation. The dark unit below is an organic-rich
sediment formed during the Blling-Allerd warm period (GS-1), and
the unit above is Holocene gyttja and peat. Note the distinct lower
and upper boundaries of Younger Dryas, and for scaling the
spade in foreground.

2 Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation
Dryas, should be termed events and be defined by the
Greenland Summit ice core stratigraphies. In this new
scheme, the Younger Dryas corresponds to
Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1), and the original Allerød
warm period is defined as three events: Greenland
Interstadial-1c to 1a (GI-1c to GI-1a).
p0020 Although the Younger Dryas oscillation had been
a well-known feature among European Quaternary
geologists for almost a century, it was not until it
was ‘discovered’ on the North American continent
that it became a really ‘hot’ research topic. In spite
of reports of complex sediment lithologies in east-
ern Canada and distinct pollen stratigraphic
changes in New England of late-glacial age, pub-
lished at least half a century ago, these findings
were not regarded as evidence for climatic oscilla-
tions. However, in the mid-1980s, researchers
began to relate these phenomena to a Younger
Dryas cooling; old sites were reinterpreted in New
England and in eastern Canada, and new sites with
a presumed Younger Dryas oscillation were found
(summarized by Wright, 1989). Mainly based on
RS
marine evidence, Ruddiman and McIntyre (1981)
presented a model for oceanic Polar Front shifts
during the last deglaciation, in which the Polar
Front is displaced far south (northern Spain) in
the North Atlantic around the same time as when
FI
the Younger Dryas cooling in mainland Europe was
presumed to have occurred. The implication was
that a large part of the North Atlantic, and thus
most of the European Atlantic coasts, was shut off
R
from warm Atlantic waters and that the marine
environment north of the front was characterized
by abundant icebergs and sea ice. The lack of
E
Younger Dryas records in North America probably
prevented the authors from drawing the position of
VI
the front all the way to the east coast of America.
The Ruddiman-McIntyre model of Polar Front
shifts and Boyle and Keigwin’s (1987) results from
SE
the Bermuda Rise showing reduced North Atlantic
deep water (NADW) formation during the Younger
Dryas played an important role for increased
understanding of the late-glacial climatic shifts,
EL
and perhaps especially of some of the characteris-
tics of and mechanisms behind the Younger Dryas
cooling.
p0025 In the late 1980s the evidence for a circum-North
Atlantic Younger Dryas cooling became more widely
accepted, and the common late-glacial climatic
pattern around the North Atlantic was clearly
manifested by the regional summaries of the
North Atlantic Seaboard Programme (NASP) of
International Geological Correlation Programme
(IGCP) project 253 as well as by the NASP synthesis.
QUAT 00134
The Northern Hemisphere Younger Dryas s0010
With the overwhelming evidence of an amphi-North p0030
Atlantic Younger Dryas cooling it became clear that
it must have had an impact over large regions, per-
haps even a hemispheric or global influence. Its
strong impact on North Atlantic trade-wind intensity
and regional precipitation patterns shown in the
F
Cariaco basin of the tropical North Atlantic was a
clear indication of its large influence on Northern
OO
Hemisphere climate.
Possible Triggering Mechanisms Behind s0015
the Younger Dryas
Changes in NADW and thermohaline circulation p0035
PR
(THC) were excellent mechanisms for explaining
the late-glacial climatic oscillations, most clearly dis-
played in north-west European records where the
North Atlantic current has its strongest impact.
However, the exceptionally long and severe
Younger Dryas cooling, compared with other late-
T glacial North Atlantic coolings, led to a special inter-
est in its underlying mechanisms. The idea that a
sudden fresh-water event triggered the onset of
Younger Dryas, such as the diversion of the outlet
of Lake Agassiz from the Gulf of Mexico to an east-
ern outlet with a more or less catastrophic drainage
through the St. Lawrence River and a simultaneous
Baltic Ice Lake drainage into the North Sea, is a
mechanism that is supported by coupled atmo-
sphere-ocean modeling. A sudden decrease in salinity
in areas where NADW normally occurs would have a
rapid and disturbing effect on the THC. This would
seriously hamper the northwards meridional heat
advection, and this model of explaining the sudden
onset and exceptional length of the Younger Dryas
has been widely acknowledged as the most plausible
mechanism for the onset of the oscillation. The pro-
blem is, however, that it is only based on circumstan-
tial evidence; unless we can pinpoint the onset of
such events to the very same year, the link remains
indirect. Furthermore, the Younger Dryas Lake
Agassiz drainage through the Great Lakes has
recently been questioned but the last words on this
topic are certainly not written.
Timing of the Younger Dryas s0020
The occurrence of a cold oscillation preceding the p0040
warm Holocene in all the deep Greenland ice cores,
starting with the Camp Century core, became a
strong support for those who claimed that Younger
Dryas was a significant climatic oscillation. The
Greenland Summit ice cores Greenland Ice Sheet
Project-2 (GISP-2) and Greenland Icecore Project
(GRIP) imply that the Younger Dryas lasted
 QUAT 00134

Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation 3

1150–1300 years, depending on which ice core is
used for the determination and that it started around
12,800 ice years BP. Likewise, the age of the end of
the Younger Dryas varies between different
Greenland ice cores and their different age models.
However, the most likely age seems to be 11,600–
11,650 cal yr BP, and it appears to have been syn-
chronous over large parts of the North Atlantic
Although the end of the Younger Dryas was prag- p0050
matically set to 10,000 14C years BP in the Nordic
chronostratigraphy, the majority of age estimates for
the end of the climatic cooling, often based on bulk
sediment dates, was usually centered around 10,200
14
C years BP. However, with the possibility of AMS
dating of identified macrofossils it gradually became
clear that the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition

F
region. around the North Atlantic was characterized by a
p0045 The suggested 14C age of 11,000–10,000 years BP so-called 14C plateau, i.e., a long period when 14C

for the Younger Dryas Chronozone also meant that
this 14C age usually was assigned to the climatic
oscillation. However, with the advent of 14C accel-
erator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating during the
early 1980s it became possible to 14C date very small
OO
ages are roughly the same resulting in declining D14C
values. The new calibration curve, and with the end
of Younger Dryas at 11,650–11,600 cal years BP,
shows that the last 200 years of Younger Dryas are
characterized by a gradual decline in 14C ages from

PR
quantities (a few milligrams) of well-defined terres- 10,200 to 10,050 14C years BP (Figure 2). At the
trial organic material (e.g., leaves and seeds) formed transition a 200–250 year long 14C plateau starts
in direct contact with atmospheric carbon dioxide. with 14C ages varying between 10,050 and 10,000
Previously the normal type of dated material con- 14
C years BP; thus a 14C age of 10,000–10,050 for
sisted of bulk sediment material, prone to different the end of Younger Dryas is presently the best esti-
dating problems such as hard-water errors and
reworked organic material. With the increasing num-
ber of geologically ‘more reliable’ AMS 14C measure-
T mate. The boundary now seems to coincide approxi-
mately with the onset of a 14C plateau, implying an
RS
increased global ocean ventilation rate; that is if car-
ments it became clear that atmospheric 14C
bon cycle changes and not 14C production are
variations were considerable during the millennia
responsible for this decrease in D14C.
preceding the Holocene. In combination with the
idea that the late-glacial oscillations were triggered
FI

by a varying strength of the North Atlantic THC, and

thus by changes in ocean ventilation, these 14C varia-
tions were often interpreted as responses within the
carbon cycle of atmosphere–ocean exchange pro-
10400
cesses. For example, during the early 1990s an
R

increasing number of high-resolution 14C dates

Radiocarbon years BP

around the Allerød–Younger Dryas boundary began

E

to indicate that this often distinct palaeoclimatic 10000

change was difficult to 14C date in detail; depending
on which side of the boundary the 14C samples origi-
VI

nated from, ages could vary between 11,000 and

10,600 14C years BP. Studies also showed that a 9600
14
C age of 11,000 years BP clearly pre-dates the
SE

boundary, and that the first (oldest) Younger Dryas

14
C samples often obtain ages of 10,700–10,600 14C
9200
years BP. In fact, this very rapid age shift, which we
12400 12000 11600 11200
today know is a robust feature, could be used to
EL

answer different questions and hypotheses about
Younger Dryas. Was this distinct rise in atmospheric
14
C content (D14C values) an effect of a severe dis-
turbance in the North Atlantic THC resulting in
decreased (25–50%) ventilation between the ocean
and the atmosphere? If this was the case it could, for
example, imply that the onset of Younger Dryas was
characterized by a rapid spread of sea ice. In addi-
tion, the large 14C changes at this boundary are an
excellent time marker for evaluating if the event is
hemispherically and/or globally synchronous.
Calender years BP
Figure 2 Part of the radiocarbon calibration data set IntCal04, f0010
based on radiocarbon-dated tree-rings from German pines,
between 10,500 and 9500 14C years BP. Each thin vertical line
on the curve shows a 14C age of a dated tree-ring, and the length
of the line is the 14C dating error (1). The calibration curve is
compared to a set of 20 14C dates on terrestrial macrofossils from
sediments in three south Swedish lakes. The blue dates come
from sediments formed just or slightly before the Younger Dryas–
Holocene boundary, and the red dates are from sediments of very
early Holocene age. The vertical lines display the radiocarbon
error (1) and the horizontal lines show the calibration error
(1). The dashed lines mark the 10,050–10,000 14C year plateau.

4 Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation
p0055 We can conclude that the Younger Dryas cool
event is bordered by distinct changes in the atmo-
spheric 14C content. By comparisons with the beryl-
lium-10 (10Be) record from ice cores, it shows that
the main part of these changes cannot be ascribed to
production changes, but must be related to variations
within the carbon cycle. Because of the large and
sudden changes, it is very likely that the largest car-
bon reservoir—the ocean—was a key player for these
variations. This is an additional indication that the
Younger Dryas cooling was triggered by THC
changes and a varying strength of NADW.
s0025 Younger Dryas Records Outside the
Amphi-North Atlantic Region
p0060 In considering evidence for a Northern Hemisphere
Younger Dryas oscillation it is necessary to focus on
the huge North Pacific region. Several studies in this
region have shown that climate variability during the
last ice age cycle seems to have been very similar to
that reconstructed from terrestrial, ice core, and mar-
ine records in the circum-North Atlantic region.
T a few decades of lag for the Southern Hemisphere. It
RS
These studies constitute marine and lacustrine sedi-
ments, speleothems, and loess profiles, ranging from
the west coast of North America/Central America to
Japan and up onto the Chinese loess plateau.
Although the chronologies for some of these records
FI
have often been too poor for direct correlations to the
often better dated North Atlantic records, the cli-
matic pattern seems very similar. It has, therefore,
often been stated that a direct link exists between
R
North Atlantic and North Pacific climates on millen-
nial time scales. In fact, a Younger Dryas-like event
seems to be the last of these glacial suborbital climate
E
oscillations in the North Pacific region, but the exact
timing has usually not been possible to determine.
VI
Although not very well dated, one of the first indica-
tions of a Younger Dryas event in the north-eastern
Pacific region came from a lacustrine study in south-
SE
eastern Alaska, showing a pine parkland being
replaced by tundra. However, the climatic ‘signature’
of this event is often very different on both sides of
the North Pacific. While the Santa Barbara basin
EL
sediments became bioturbated as an effect of locally
increased ventilation, the Japan Sea records show a
change to laminated sediments, possibly caused by
increased sea ice cover/anoxic conditions. The
Chinese speleothems and loess profiles suggest an
oscillating strength of the East Asian monsoon sys-
tem during the Last Termination, with a weakening
of the Younger Dryas summer monsoon, explaining
the more arid conditions during this time, and a
strengthening of the winter monsoon with increased
dust load from central Asia. The latter is seen in the
QUAT 00134
Greenland Summit ice cores. Uranium–Thorium (U–
Th) ages from Tangshan Cave in east China constrain
the Younger Dryas fairly well (12,500–11,540 years
BP), but indicate that the onset and end of the
Younger Dryas dry event in East Asia may have
been delayed in relation to the North Atlantic.
There are, however, other less well-dated records in
the desert-loess boundary area of northern China
F
implying more oscillating Younger Dryas conditions
with tropical–polar interconnections. At Lake
OO
Suigetsu in Japan, the Last Termination in East Asia
has probably been studied in the most detail. Its
annually laminated sediments have been 14C dated
and pollen analyzed, and its pollen record has been
quantified in terms of mean annual temperature. The
PR
reconstruction shows a temperature decline of 2–4 C
between 12,300 and 11,250 years BP, based on the
varve chronology, which implies a substantial delay
at the onset and end of the Younger Dryas in relation
to the North Atlantic.
The atmospheric 14C signal is a global signal, with p0065
is therefore of interest to compare the set of 14C dates
at the onset and end of the Younger Dryas in Lake
Suigetsu with corresponding 14C dates in the North
Atlantic region. As noted above, the very onset of the
Younger Dryas is dated to 10,700–10,600 14C years
BP on terrestrial macrofossils and tree rings in
Europe, after a shift from c. 11,000 14C years BP in
less than 50 cal years. The same shift is seen in the
Lake Suigetsu 14C record, but it predates Lake
Suigetsu’s Younger Dryas by a few hundred years.
The Chinese and Japanese data, therefore, confirm
each other: the Younger Dryas dry and cold event in
East Asia lags the North Atlantic Younger Dryas
cooling with at least 200–300 years. It is probable
that the reason behind this may lie in the often sug-
gested ‘winter dominance’ of the Younger Dryas cli-
mate, creatively evaluated and reviewed by Denton,
et al. (2005). Studies show that late-lasting Eurasian
snow cover will hamper the following summer mon-
soon by cooling down the land mass, decreasing the
monsoon driving temperature gradient between the
sea and the continent. The several hundred year-long
transition into Younger Dryas, in Chinese and
Japanese records, could imply that the Younger
Dryas cold winter conditions in the North Atlantic
region spread eastwards on the Eurasian continent
resulting in gradually longer and cooler winters,
increasing the intensity of the winter monsoon and
gradually weakening the summer monsoon.
Similarly, if we compare the 14C ages at the end of p0070
the Younger Dryas in Lake Suigetsu with the 14C ages
of the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition around
the North Atlantic and around 11,600 cal years BP

in the calibration data set, we can try to evaluate lags
between the records. In European detailed 14C
records, for example (Björck, et al., 1996), Late
Younger Dryas 14C ages are greater than 10,000
years BP and rather around 10,100 cal years BP,
while the early Preboreal 14C ages are usually not
older than 10,100 years BP (including 1), but rather
around 10,000 years BP (Figure 2), a pattern which
can be seen in the calibration data set before and after
11,600 cal year BP. Because of the fairly large spread
of the Lake Suigetsu 14C dates at this time period a
similar distinct pattern is hard to detect. However, it
is impossible to shift the 14C dates of the transition in
Lake Suigetsu to more than 100–200 varve years
older ages, and therefore the notion of a delay of
the Holocene warming in Japan, and perhaps also
in other parts of East Asia, seems very likely. The
scenario may be the same as for the delayed onset of
the Younger Dryas; the Eurasian continent was gra-
dually warmed from the west and the propagation of
the marine warming from the North Atlantic into the
Pacific Ocean took a few centuries.
The presence of a Younger Dryas-like oscillation in
T Younger Dryas cooling. It should, however, also be
RS
p0075
the circum-North Atlantic and circum-North Pacific
regions would imply that it also occurs in the region
in between: North Africa and the Arabian Sea/north-
ern Indian Ocean. Independent data sets show that
FI
northern-equatorial Africa was dominated by arid
conditions during the time of the Younger Dryas:
lake levels fell in the west and east, and mountain
forests were reduced. These mostly arid conditions
may have been related to decreased intensity of the
R
summer monsoon, which is supported by evidence of
decreased summer upwelling along the Oman and
E
Pakistan coasts during the Younger Dryas; summer
upwelling strength is closely linked to the regional
VI
summer monsoon.
p0080 It is clear that the partial reorganization of the
climate system during the Younger Dryas had a fairly
SE
substantial impact on the Northern Hemisphere cli-
mate, especially the winter conditions; both the
atmospheric and marine circulation pattern changed,
North Atlantic sea ice extended considerably, the
albedo increased, monsoon intensity decreased, and
EL
atmospheric aerosols became more abundant, possi-
bly most so in winter.
s0030 Is there Evidence for a Younger Dryas
Oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere?
p0085 Although the Younger Dryas was most likely trig-
gered by changes in the North Atlantic, it would be
surprising if this event was not felt by the climate
system of the Southern Hemisphere; the large impact
QUAT 00134
Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation 5
of the Younger Dryas on the Northern Hemisphere
climate ought to have been propagated, in one way or
another, into some of the driving mechanisms for the
Southern Hemisphere climate system.
South America is probably the continent where p0090
discussions about the presence or absence of a
Younger Dryas cold event have been most lively.
Most of these conflicting glacial, palynological, and
F
palaeoentomological records are from Chile and
Argentina, but several records also exist from more
OO
northerly areas such as the central Andes and in the
Amazon Basin. Palaeoclimatic interpretations of
these data sets and the chronology of the records
seem to have been the two main obstacles for finding
a common Younger Dryas signal. The hitherto best
PR
dated series of South American cooling events come
from two sites at 41 S in Chile and Argentina dated
to c. 11,500–10,200 14C years BP (c. 13,400–12,000
cal years BP). This implies that any South American
equivalent to the Younger Dryas overlapped half of
the European Allerød warm period and half of the
remembered that the data sets analyzed and dis-
cussed, were formed during a climatically very
dynamic time period. Large differences should, there-
fore, be expected between the Amazon Basin at the
Equator and Tierra del Fuego in the south, the
Atlantic coast in the east, and the high Andes in the
west. The debate was also fueled by reports of well-
dated so-called Younger Dryas glacial advances in
New Zealand with mean 14C ages of 11,000 14C
years BP. In light of the already then existing knowl-
edge that such ages pre-date the North Atlantic
Younger Dryas cooling, it would have been more
appropriate to regard these dates as evidence for
‘Allerød glacial advances in the Southern
Hemisphere’. Time is also needed to build up glacier
ice and form the moraines. The concept of pre-
Younger Dryas glacial advances in New Zealand is
now generally accepted, and detailed dating of a
climate reversal in Kaipo bog, with an age of
13,600–12,600 cal years BP, shows that this cooling
most likely triggered any glacial advances.
Since the 1980s there have been indications that p0095
Antarctic ice cores show a cold spell, the Antarctic
cold reversal (ACR), before the onset of the
Holocene. However, the exact timing of this event
has been uncertain due to difficulties with obtaining
sufficiently detailed chronologies for Antarctic ice
cores. It was regarded by many as a strong indication
for an Antarctic Younger Dryas, and as such also a
Southern Hemisphere one. However, when very
detailed methane (CH4) measurements of GRIP and
the Antarctic Vostok and Byrd ice cores were pro-
duced, it became obvious that Antarctic and

6 Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation
Greenland climatic changes are asynchronous, espe-
cially during glacial times. With respect to the com-
parison between the ACR and the Younger Dryas,
the CH4 correlations have shown that the ACR began
around 13,800 ice years BP and ended at c. 12,200
ice years BP in the Vostok ice core. Furthermore, the
postACR rise in temperature occurred over c. 600
years. This implies that the ACR started c. 1000
years before the Younger Dryas started in the
Northern Hemisphere, i.e., at the beginning of the
Allerød warming (GI-1c), and ended in the middle of
the Younger Dryas (Figure 3). In fact, this type of
climatic development seems consistent with many
other observations in the Southern Hemisphere,
such as the New Zealand climatic reversal/glacial
advances, marine cores in the South Atlantic and
Indian Ocean, and records south of the equator on
the Atlantic side of Africa. However, the Antarctic
ice cores do not give us a completely consistent pic-
ture; the isotope stratigraphy of the Last Termination
from the Taylor Dome ice core is more similar to the
Greenland ice cores than are the other Antarctic
cores. A warming peak is reached at c. 14,000 ice
years BP, which seems to be a normal feature in
Antarctic ice cores, followed by a gradual cooling
with minimum values at 12,900–12,300 ice years
BP, which chronologically corresponds to the first
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part of the Younger Dryas. At c. 11,500 ice years
BP a sudden Holocene warming occurred, which is in
contrast to the long transition seen in the Vostok ice
core. It should, however, be pointed out that these
R
10000
E
11000
VI
12000
13000
SE Ice years BP
14000
15000
16000
EL
17000
18000
19000
20000
–40
GRIP oxygen isotope ratios
f0015 Figure 3 The GRIP oxygen isotope data displaying temperature shifts over the Greenland Summit compared with the relative
temperature record from the Vostok station in Antarctica, between 20,000 and 10,000 ice years BP. Ice years are approximately the
same as calendar years. The positions of the Younger Dryas and the ACR are indicated. Note that the timescale of the GRIP data around
Younger Dryas time is about 100 years too young when compared with the latest, but still unpublished chronology from the NorthGRIP core.
QUAT 00134
time differences may partly be explained by problems
in the various ice chronologies. It is also possible that
different regions of Antarctica responded in different
ways to the deglacial warming of the Last
Termination. Most of the currently available data
do, however, imply that the ACR began more than
1000 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas in
the north, but not in direct ‘antiphase’ with the
F
Bølling-Allerød (GI-1) warming in the north. They
also imply that the start of the Holocene warming in
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most Antarctic ice cores leads the warming in the
north with by least 500 years.
The findings that warmings during glacial time in p0100
Antarctic ice cores roughly coincide with cold peri-
ods over the Greenland Summit, and vice versa,
PR
resulted in the hypothesis of a bipolar seesaw climate
pattern. To what degree the Younger Dryas and the
ACR are part of this is difficult to judge, at least as
long as the chronologies are incomplete. Even before
this hypothesis was formulated, climate models had
T shown that a breakdown of the THC in the North
Atlantic would result in a warming of the Southern
RS
Ocean. Later models differed on how much such a
warming would spread in the Southern Hemisphere:
to the entire hemisphere or only to the South Atlantic
and southern Indian Ocean? Based on today’s knowl-
edge it is, however, tempting to conclude that (par-
tial) breakdown of THC and NADW in the North
Atlantic, as a result of sudden fresh-water discharges,
resulted in a more or less extensive warming during
Younger Dryas time in the Southern Hemisphere. In
10000
11000
Younger 12000
Dryas
ACR 13000
14000
15000
16000
17000
18000
19000
20000
–36 –32 –8 –4 0
Vostok relative temperature
 QUAT 00134

Evidence for a Global Younger Dryas Oscillation 7

fact, it is also likely that large parts of the Southern Abbreviations

Hemisphere experienced a cold period (ACR) before
ACR Antarctic cold reversal
its entry into the Holocene warming, but clearly
AMS accelerator mass spectrometry
before the Northern Hemisphere Younger Dryas.
BP before present
ELA equilibrium line altitude
s0035 Conclusions GISP Greenland Ice Sheet Project-2
GRIP Greenland Icecore Project
p0105 We can conclude that the present interglacial, the

F
GS-1 Greenland Stadial 1
Holocene, was preceded by a distinct cool/dry event
IGCP International Geological Correlation
in the Northern Hemisphere, generally designated

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the Younger Dryas cooling or the GS-1 event in the Programme
Mwp-1A melt-water peak-1A
Greenland ice cores and dated to c. 12,800–11,600
NADW North Atlantic deep water
cal years BP, and manifested by a winter dominated
NASP North Atlantic Seaboard Programme
climatic signature. In East Asia, there is good evi-
THC thermohaline circulation
dence that the onset and end of the event was slightly

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Please confirm whether below information are correct which does not appear
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Author’s Contact Information

S Björck
Geobiosphere Science Centre

F
Lund University
Lund

OO
Sweden

Abstract: The research history of the Younger Dryas oscillation is briefly described. Different
Younger Dryas archives are presented, and the methods by which the event is dated are discussed.

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Possible mechanisms behind the oscillation, its presence in northern and southern Hemisphere
records, and its possible role within a bipolar seesaw climatic pattern are discussed.

Keywords: Bipolar seesaw, glacial melt-water, ice cores, lacustrine sediments, Late-Glacial, marine
sediments, moraines, North Atlantic, Palaeoclimate, radiocarbon dating, speloethems, loess,
thermohaline circulation, Younger Dryas
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