Younger Dryas - End of The Climate Period

End of The Climate Period

Measurements of oxygen isotopes from the GISP2 ice core suggest the ending of the Younger Dryas took place over just 40 – 50 years in three discrete steps, each lasting five years. Other proxy data, such as dust concentration, and snow accumulation, suggest an even more rapid transition, requiring about a 7 °C (12.60 °F) warming in just a few years. Total warming was 10 ± 4 °C (18 ± 7 °F).

The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to around 11.55 ka BP, occurring at 10 ka BP (radiocarbon year), a "radiocarbon plateau" by a variety of methods, with mostly consistent results:

11.50 ± 0.05 ka BP — GRIP ice core, Greenland
11.53 + 0.04
− 0.06
ka BP — Kråkenes Lake, western Norway.
11.57 ka BP — Cariaco Basin core, Venezuela
11.57 ka BP — German oak/pine dendrochronology
11.64 ± 0.28 ka BP — GISP2 ice core, Greenland

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