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An ice core record of near-synchronous global climate changes at the Bølling transition

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 459–463 (2014)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 13 June 2014

This article has been updated

Abstract

The abrupt warming that initiated the Bølling–Allerød interstadial was the penultimate warming in a series of climate variations known as Dansgaard–Oeschger events. Despite the clear expression of this transition in numerous palaeoclimate records, the relative timing of climate shifts in different regions of the world and their causes are subject to debate. Here we explore the phasing of global climate change at the onset of the Bølling–Allerød using air preserved in bubbles in the North Greenland Eemian ice core. Specifically, we measured methane concentrations, which act as a proxy for low-latitude climate, and the 15N/14N ratio of N2, which reflects Greenland surface temperature, over the same interval of time. We use an atmospheric box model and a firn air model to account for potential uncertainties in the data, and find that changes in Greenland temperature and atmospheric methane emissions at the Bølling onset occurred essentially synchronously, with temperature leading by 4.5 years. We cannot exclude the possibility that tropical climate could lag changing methane concentrations by up to several decades, if the initial methane rise came from boreal sources alone. However, because even boreal methane-producing regions lie far from Greenland, we conclude that the mechanism that drove abrupt change at this time must be capable of rapidly transmitting climate changes across the globe.

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Figure 1: δD, δ15N and methane data from the NEEM ice core at the Bølling transition.
Figure 2: Detailed view of CH4 and δ15N from the NEEM ice core across the Bølling–Allerød transition.
Figure 3: Model–data comparisons for a suite of possible surface scenarios.
Figure 4: Phase relationship between Greenland temperature and methane emissions at the Bølling transition.

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Change history

  • 13 June 2014

    In the version of this Article originally published, the last sentence in the caption of Fig. 4 should have read 'The most likely lead of temperature over methane emissions is 4.5+21−24 years'. This error has now been corrected in all online versions of the Article.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our great appreciation for the efforts and collaboration of the NEEM ice core community. NEEM is directed and organized by the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute and US NSF, Office of Polar Programs. It is supported by funding agencies and institutions in Belgium (FNRS-CFB and FWO), Canada (NRCan/GSC), China (CAS), Denmark (FIST), France (IPEV, CNRS/INSU, CEA and ANR), Germany (AWI), Iceland (RannIs), Japan (NIPR), Korea (KOPRI), the Netherlands (NWO/ALW), Sweden (VR), Switzerland (SNF), the United Kingdom (NERC) and the USA (US NSF, Office of Polar Programs). We also acknowledge support from US NSF Grants OPP0806414 (to E.J.B.), OPP0806377 (to J.P.S.), ANT0806377 (to E.J.B.) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (to J.L.R.). We thank R. Beaudette for making the δ15N measurements at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

    Julia L. Rosen, Edward J. Brook, Logan E. Mitchell, James E. Lee & Jon S. Edwards

  2. Scripps Institution for Oceanography, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, California 92093, USA

    Jeffrey P. Severinghaus

  3. The Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thomas Blunier & Vasileios Gkinis

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  1. Julia L. Rosen
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Contributions

J.L.R. analysed the NEEM gas data, developed the firn air model, carried out the phase analysis and wrote the manuscript. E.J.B., J.P.S. and T.B. developed the initial hypothesis, assisted with analysis and oversaw measurement campaigns. L.E.M., J.E.L. and J.S.E. measured the methane samples. V.G. provided water isotope data and insight into chronology development. All authors provided input for the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Edward J. Brook.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Rosen, J., Brook, E., Severinghaus, J. et al. An ice core record of near-synchronous global climate changes at the Bølling transition. Nature Geosci 7, 459–463 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2147

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