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Science 31 October 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5339, pp. 825 - 827
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5339.825
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Reports

The Holocene-Younger Dryas Transition Recorded at Summit, Greenland

K. C. Taylor, P. A. Mayewski, R. B. Alley, E. J. Brook, A. J. Gow, P. M. Grootes, D. A. Meese, E. S. Saltzman, J. P. Severinghaus, M. S. Twickler, J. W. C. White, S. Whitlow, G. A. Zielinski

Analysis of ice from Dye-3, Greenland, has demonstrated that the transition between the Younger Dryas and Holocene climate periods occurred over a 40-year period. A near annually resolved, multiparameter record of the transition recorded in the GISP2 core from Summit, Greenland, shows that most of the transition occurred in a series of steps with durations of about 5 years. Some climate proxies associated with mid-latitude sources appear to have changed about 15 years before climate proxies associated with more northern regions. Changes in atmospheric water vapor are likely to have played a large role in the climate transition.

K. C. Taylor, Desert Research Institute, University and Community College System of Nevada, Reno, NV 89506, USA.
P. A. Mayewski, M. S. Twickler, S. Whitlow, G. A. Zielinski, Climate Change Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
R. B. Alley, Earth System Science Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
E. J. Brook, Departments of Geology and Environmental Science, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA.
A. J. Gow and D. A. Meese, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
P. M. Grootes, C-14 Laboratory of the Christian Albrechts University Kiel, Leibnizstrasse 19, Kiel, Germany.
E. S. Saltzman, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA.
J. P. Severinghaus, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02819, USA.
J. W. C. White, INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

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