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Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core

Nature volume 493, pages 489–494 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland ice sheet to the warmer-than-present climate of the Eemian has thus remained unclear. Here we present the new North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (‘NEEM’) ice core and show only a modest ice-sheet response to the strong warming in the early Eemian. We reconstructed the Eemian record from folded ice using globally homogeneous parameters known from dated Greenland and Antarctic ice-core records. On the basis of water stable isotopes, NEEM surface temperatures after the onset of the Eemian (126,000 years ago) peaked at 8 ± 4 degrees Celsius above the mean of the past millennium, followed by a gradual cooling that was probably driven by the decreasing summer insolation. Between 128,000 and 122,000 years ago, the thickness of the northwest Greenland ice sheet decreased by 400 ± 250 metres, reaching surface elevations 122,000 years ago of 130 ± 300 metres lower than the present. Extensive surface melt occurred at the NEEM site during the Eemian, a phenomenon witnessed when melt layers formed again at NEEM during the exceptional heat of July 2012. With additional warming, surface melt might become more common in the future.

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Figure 1: Observed NEEM records.
Figure 2: Reconstructed records from the NEEM ice core.
Figure 3: Disturbances of the deep NEEM ice.
Figure 4: Reconstruction of the temperature and elevation history.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the many persons involved in logistics, drill developments and drilling, and ice-core processing and analysis in the field and in our laboratories. NEEM is directed and organized by the Centre of 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), South Korea (KOPRI), The Netherlands (NWO/ALW), Sweden (VR), Switzerland (SNF), the United Kingdom (NERC) and the USA (US NSF, Office of Polar Programs) and the EU Seventh Framework programmes Past4Future and WaterundertheIce. NASA is acknowledged for the OIB 2011 programme.

Author information

Author notes

  1. A. Aldahan, T. Jenk, P. Sperlich & K. Steffen

    Present address: Present addresses: Department of Geology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (A.A.); Paul Scherrer Institute, OFLB/109, 5232 Villigen – PSI, Switzerland (T.J.); Max-Would Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany (P.S.); Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zuercherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute for Atmosphere and Climate Science (IAC), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Universitaetstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland; School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland (K.S.).,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen K, Denmark.,

    D. Dahl-Jensen, D. Balslev-Clausen, T. Blunier, S. L. Buchardt, C. Buizert, H. B. Clausen, I. Cvijanovic, P. Ditlevsen, V. Gkinis, A. Grinsted, M. Guillevic, S. B. Hansen, C. S. Hvidberg, T. Jenk, S. J. Johnsen, N. B. Karlsson, E. Kettner, H. A. Kjær, P. L. Langen, L. B. Larsen, C. Panton, T. Popp, S. O. Rasmussen, C. Reutenauer, M. Rubino, A. M. Z. Schmidt, I. Seierstad, S. Sheldon, S. B. Simonsen, J. Sjolte, A. M. Solgaard, P. Sperlich, H. C. Steen-Larsen, J. P. Steffensen, C. Stowasser, A. Svensson, P. Vallelonga, B. Vinther & M. Winstrup

  2. Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA.,

    M. R. Albert & K. Keegan

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.,

    A. Aldahan, A.-M. Berggren, D. Samyn & A. S. Sturevik

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka-machi, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan.,

    N. Azuma & D. Samyn

  5. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.,

    M. Baumgartner, M. Bigler, O. Eicher, H. Fischer, G. Gfeller, D. Leuenberger, M. Leuenberger, O. Mini, A. Schilt, J. Schwander, S. Schüpbach, T. F. Stocker & G. van der Wel

  6. IWR, University of Heidelberg, Speyerer Straße 6, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.,

    T. Binder

  7. Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa K1A 0E8, Canada.,

    J. C. Bourgeois, D. A. Fisher & J. Zheng

  8. College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, 104 CEOAS Administration Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-5503, USA.,

    E. J. Brook, C. Buizert, J. L. Rosen & A. Schilt

  9. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, IPSL, Bâtiment 701 L’Orme des Merisiers, CEA Saclay, 91 191 Gif sur Yvette, France.,

    E. Capron, M. Guillevic, J. Jouzel, A. Landais, V. Masson-Delmotte, K. Pol, F. Prié & H. C. Steen-Larsen

  10. British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK.,

    E. Capron, L. G. Fleet, R. Mulvaney, K. Pol & E. W. Wolff

  11. LGGE, UJF-Grenoble 1, CNRS, 64 rue Molière, BP 96, 38402 St Martin d’Hères, France.,

    J. Chappellaz, P. Martinerie, M. Montagnat-Rentier, J.-R. Petit, A. Quiquet, D. Raynaud & C. Ritz

  12. Korea Polar Research Institute, Songdo Techno Park, 7-50, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 406-840, South Korea.,

    J. Chung & S. D. Hur

  13. Department of Geography, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.,

    S. M. Davies

  14. INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    V. Gkinis, T. R. Jones, B. H. Vaughn & J. W. C. White

  15. CReSIS, University of Kansas, Nichols Hall, 2335 Irving Hill Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.,

    S. Gogineni, C. Leuschen, J. Li & J. Paden

  16. National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan.,

    K. Goto-Azuma, M. Hirabayashi, K. Kawamura, T. Kuramoto & J. Uetake

  17. Institute of Earth and Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, IS-107, Reykjavik, Iceland.,

    H. Gudlaugsdottir & A. Sveinbjörnsdottir

  18. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.,

    M. Hansson & Y. Iizuka

  19. Department of Ocean Sciences, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea.,

    S. Hong

  20. Earth System Sciences and Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.,

    P. Huybrechts & O. Rybak

  21. Institute of Mountain Science, Shinshu University, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto City 390-8621, Japan.,

    T. Kuramoto

  22. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, PO Box 12 01 61, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany.,

    S. Kipfstuhl, P. Köhler, T. Laepple, H. Miller, D. Steinhage, A. Wegner, I. Weikusat & F. Wilhelms

  23. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-1310, Washington, USA

    M. Koutnik & E. Waddington

  24. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St Petersburg 199397, Russia.,

    V. Lipenkov

  25. Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, 89512, Nevada, USA

    O. J. Maselli & J. R. McConnell

  26. Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan.,

    Y. Iizuka & A. Miyamoto

  27. Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden.,

    R. Muscheler & J. Sjolte

  28. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.,

    A. J. Orsi & J. P. Severinghaus

  29. Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP160/03, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.,

    F. Pattyn & J.-L. Tison

  30. Tandem Laboratory, Uppsala University, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.,

    G. Possnert

  31. Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands.,

    M. Prokopiou, T. Röckmann, C. J. Sapart & R. S. W. van de Wal

  32. State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    J. Ren & C. Xiao

  33. Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Aspendale, 3195 Victoria, Australia.,

    M. Rubino

  34. Earth and Environment Systems Institute, Penn State University, 2217 EES Building, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    T. Sowers

  35. CIRES, University of Colorado, 216 UCB Boulder, Colorado 80309-0216, USA.,

    K. Steffen

  36. University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, UK.,

    W. T. Sturges

  37. UJF – Grenoble 1/CNRS, Grenoble Image Parole Signal Automatique (GIPSA-lab), UMR 5216, BP 46, 38402 St Martin d’Hères, France.,

    E. Witrant

  38. China Institute of Climate System, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.,

    C. Xiao

Consortia

NEEM community members

  • D. Dahl-Jensen
  • , M. R. Albert
  • , A. Aldahan
  • , N. Azuma
  • , D. Balslev-Clausen
  • , M. Baumgartner
  • , A.-M. Berggren
  • , M. Bigler
  • , T. Binder
  • , T. Blunier
  • , J. C. Bourgeois
  • , E. J. Brook
  • , S. L. Buchardt
  • , C. Buizert
  • , E. Capron
  • , J. Chappellaz
  • , J. Chung
  • , H. B. Clausen
  • , I. Cvijanovic
  • , S. M. Davies
  • , P. Ditlevsen
  • , O. Eicher
  • , H. Fischer
  • , D. A. Fisher
  • , L. G. Fleet
  • , G. Gfeller
  • , V. Gkinis
  • , S. Gogineni
  • , K. Goto-Azuma
  • , A. Grinsted
  • , H. Gudlaugsdottir
  • , M. Guillevic
  • , S. B. Hansen
  • , M. Hansson
  • , M. Hirabayashi
  • , S. Hong
  • , S. D. Hur
  • , P. Huybrechts
  • , C. S. Hvidberg
  • , Y. Iizuka
  • , T. Jenk
  • , S. J. Johnsen
  • , T. R. Jones
  • , J. Jouzel
  • , N. B. Karlsson
  • , K. Kawamura
  • , K. Keegan
  • , E. Kettner
  • , S. Kipfstuhl
  • , H. A. Kjær
  • , M. Koutnik
  • , T. Kuramoto
  • , P. Köhler
  • , T. Laepple
  • , A. Landais
  • , P. L. Langen
  • , L. B. Larsen
  • , D. Leuenberger
  • , M. Leuenberger
  • , C. Leuschen
  • , J. Li
  • , V. Lipenkov
  • , P. Martinerie
  • , O. J. Maselli
  • , V. Masson-Delmotte
  • , J. R. McConnell
  • , H. Miller
  • , O. Mini
  • , A. Miyamoto
  • , M. Montagnat-Rentier
  • , R. Mulvaney
  • , R. Muscheler
  • , A. J. Orsi
  • , J. Paden
  • , C. Panton
  • , F. Pattyn
  • , J.-R. Petit
  • , K. Pol
  • , T. Popp
  • , G. Possnert
  • , F. Prié
  • , M. Prokopiou
  • , A. Quiquet
  • , S. O. Rasmussen
  • , D. Raynaud
  • , J. Ren
  • , C. Reutenauer
  • , C. Ritz
  • , T. Röckmann
  • , J. L. Rosen
  • , M. Rubino
  • , O. Rybak
  • , D. Samyn
  • , C. J. Sapart
  • , A. Schilt
  • , A. M. Z. Schmidt
  • , J. Schwander
  • , S. Schüpbach
  • , I. Seierstad
  • , J. P. Severinghaus
  • , S. Sheldon
  • , S. B. Simonsen
  • , J. Sjolte
  • , A. M. Solgaard
  • , T. Sowers
  • , P. Sperlich
  • , H. C. Steen-Larsen
  • , K. Steffen
  • , J. P. Steffensen
  • , D. Steinhage
  • , T. F. Stocker
  • , C. Stowasser
  • , A. S. Sturevik
  • , W. T. Sturges
  • , A. Sveinbjörnsdottir
  • , A. Svensson
  • , J.-L. Tison
  • , J. Uetake
  • , P. Vallelonga
  • , R. S. W. van de Wal
  • , G. van der Wel
  • , B. H. Vaughn
  • , B. Vinther
  • , E. Waddington
  • , A. Wegner
  • , I. Weikusat
  • , J. W. C. White
  • , F. Wilhelms
  • , M. Winstrup
  • , E. Witrant
  • , E. W. Wolff
  • , C. Xiao
  •  & J. Zheng

Contributions

All authors contributed to the discussions that led to the results presented in the paper. M.R.A., A.-M.B., C.B., K. Keegan, P.M., S.B.S. and E.W. performed analysis and interpretation of the firn processes; A.A., D.B.-C., M. Baumgartner, M. Bigler, T. Blunier, E.J.B., E.C., J. Chappellaz, J. Chung, O.E., H.F., L.G.F., G.G., V.G., K.G.-A., M.H., Y.I., T.J., T.R.J., J.J., K. Kawamura, E.K., H.A.K., T.K., A.L., D.L., V.L., O.J.M., V.M.-D., J.R.M., O.M., R. Muscheler, J.-R.P., K.P., G.P., T.P., M.P., D.R., C.R., T.R., J.L.R., M.R., C.J.S., A.S., J.S., S. Schüpbach, J. P. Severinghaus, T.S., P.S., T.F.S., C.S., W.T.S., A.S.S., A. Sveinbjörnsdottir, A. Svensson, J.U., P.V., G.v.d.W., B.H.V., B.V., A.W. and F.W. were involved in the data measurements described in detail in Supplementary Information; N.A., T. Binder, S.K., A.M., M.M.-R., D.S., E.W. and I.W. contributed to the understanding of ice rheology; J.C.B. and A.M.Z.S. investigated the biology of the ice cores; S.L.B., P.H., M.K., F.P., A.Q., C.R., O.R., A.M.S. and R.S.W.v.d.W. produced ice-sheet models; H.B.C., S.M.D., D.A.F., A.G., H.G., M.G., S.J.J., P.K., A.L., T.L., M.L., S.O.R., I.S., J. P. Steffensen and M.W. participated in the dating of the NEEM ice core; I.C., P.D., P.L.L. and J.S. produced atmosphere models; D.D.-J. analysed the data; J.W.C.W. and E.W.W. put the discussion into the text; S.G., N.B.K., C.L., J.L., J.P., C. P. and D.S. participated in obtaining and interpreting the RES images; S.B.H. and S.S. were the chief mechanic and electronic engineer on the deep ice-core drill; M.G., S.H., S.D.H., H.M., R. Mulvaney, J.R. and C.X. participated in the planning of the NEEM project; L.B.L. and C.S.H. used a GPS net to determine the surface velocities; E.C., A.L., A.J.O., F.P., H.C.S.-L., K.S. and J.Z. participated in measuring temperatures and isotopes in the firn and air; J.-L.T. was involved in the interpretation of the basal ice.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Dahl-Jensen.

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The author declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Text and Data (see Content for details), Supplementary Figures 1-10, Supplementary Tables 1-2 and additional references. (PDF 1376 kb)

Supplementary Data

This file contains the data used in the paper. It contains 7 separate sheets, each of which is referred to in the Supplementary Information file. (XLS 333 kb)

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NEEM community members. Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core. Nature 493, 489–494 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11789

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