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Deglacial Climate Change
Deglacial Climate Change
Radiocarbon dates showing the retreat of the N. American ice sheet
Coral data provided data on the rate of sea level change
Proxy records provide evidence for a cold episode (Younger Dryas) that interrupted the deglacial process.
The Greenland ice cores show rapid (<100 yrs) changes in ice accumulation and dust.
Routes of meltwater flow
Deglaciation flooding of coastlines
Tropical monsoons were stronger in the northern hemisphere 9,000 yrs ago
Proxy records also show tropical monsoon maximum 9,000 yrs ago.
Decreased summer insolation in the northern tropics has produced weaker tropical monsoons.
Decreased summer insolation at high northern latitudes during the last 6,000 yrs coincides with cooler temperatures.
Humans and Paleoclimate
The spread of agriculture
Quelccaya ice cap in Peru
The Little Ice Age could have resulted from orbital-scale cooling or from a millennial-scale oscillation.
