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Climate change

A tale of two hemispheres

Nature volume 484, pages 41–42 (2012)Cite this article

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A reconstruction of temperature from proxy records shows that the rise in global mean temperature closely resembled, but slightly lagged, the rise in carbon dioxide concentration during the last period of deglaciation. See Article p.49

Between about 19,000 and 10,000 years ago, Earth emerged from the last glacial period. The whole globe warmed, ice sheets retreated from Northern Hemisphere continents and atmospheric composition changed significantly. Many theories try to explain what triggered and sustained this transformation (known as the glacial termination), but crucial evidence to validate them is lacking. On page 49 of this issue, Shakun et al.1 use a global reconstruction of temperature to show that the transition from the glacial period to the current interglacial consisted of an antiphased temperature response of Earth's two hemispheres, superimposed on a globally coherent warming. Ocean-circulation changes, controlling the contrasting response in each hemisphere, seem to have been crucial to the glacial termination.

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  1. Eric W. Wolff is at the British Antarctic Survey (Natural Environment Research Council), High Cross, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK.,

    Eric W. Wolff

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  1. Eric W. Wolff
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Correspondence to Eric W. Wolff.

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Wolff, E. A tale of two hemispheres. Nature 484, 41–42 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484041a

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