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Science 21 May 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5674, pp. 1141 - 1144
DOI: 10.1126/science.1094449
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Reports

Rapid Rise of Sea Level 19,000 Years Ago and Its Global Implications

Peter U. Clark,1* A. Marshall McCabe,3 Alan C. Mix,2 Andrew J. Weaver4

Evidence from the Irish Sea basin supports the existence of an abrupt rise in sea level (meltwater pulse) at 19,000 years before the present (B.P.). Climate records indicate a large reduction in the strength of North Atlantic Deep Water formation and attendant cooling of the North Atlantic at this time, indicating a source of the meltwater pulse from one or more Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.Warming of the tropical Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Southern Hemisphere also began at 19,000 years B.P. These responses identify mechanisms responsible for the propagation of deglacial climate signals to the Southern Hemisphere and tropics while maintaining a cold climate in the Northern Hemisphere.

1 Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
2 College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
3 School of Environmental Studies, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK.
4 School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3P6, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: clarkp{at}geo.oregonstate.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Last Glacial Maximum.
P. U. Clark, A. S. Dyke, J. D. Shakun, A. E. Carlson, J. Clark, B. Wohlfarth, J. X. Mitrovica, S. W. Hostetler, and A. M. McCabe (2009)
Science 325, 710-714
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South Atlantic interocean exchange as the trigger for the Bolling warm event.
C. M. Chiessi, S. Mulitza, A. Paul, J. Patzold, J. Groeneveld, and G. Wefer (2008)
Geology 36, 919-922
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Subtropical Atlantic salinity variability and Atlantic meridional circulation during the last deglaciation.
A. E. Carlson, D. W. Oppo, R. E. Came, A. N. LeGrande, L. D. Keigwin, and W. B. Curry (2008)
Geology 36, 991-994
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Response of the southern Greenland Ice Sheet during the last two deglaciations.
A. E. Carlson, J. S. Stoner, J. P. Donnelly, and C. Hillaire-Marcel (2008)
Geology 36, 359-362
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Radiocarbon constraints on the history of the western Irish ice sheet prior to the Last Glacial Maximum.
A. M. McCabe, P. U. Clark, and J. Clark (2007)
Geology 35, 147-150
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Inaugural Article: Climatically driven emissions of hydrocarbons from marine sediments during deglaciation.
T. M. Hill, J. P. Kennett, D. L. Valentine, Z. Yang, C. M. Reddy, R. K. Nelson, R. J. Behl, C. Robert, and L. Beaufort (2006)
PNAS 103, 13570-13574
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Sea levels: abrupt events and mechanisms of change.
R. Edwards (2005)
Progress in Physical Geography 29, 599-608
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Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes.
R. B. Alley, P. U. Clark, P. Huybrechts, and I. Joughin (2005)
Science 310, 456-460
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