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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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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)