Earth and Environment Atlas

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Phenomena

Younger Dryas

Abrupt Climate Event

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The final cold phase of the last glacial period, lasting from roughly 12,900 to 11,700 years before present, during which the North Atlantic and Northern Hemisphere underwent abrupt cooling of about 2 to 10 degrees Celsius while the Southern Hemisphere warmed. The cooling in Greenland occurred within as little as three years, and the period ended just as abruptly, with dramatic warming over roughly 50 years marking the transition from the Pleistocene into the Holocene; it is a key case study in abrupt climate change and ocean circulation shifts.

Facts
Magnitude or Scale
Cooling of about 2 to 10 degrees Celsius depending on region, up to 10 degrees in Greenland 1
Location
North Atlantic and Northern Hemisphere, most pronounced in Greenland 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

In Discipline

Sources
1. Younger Dryas (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Quote, Lead section
This period ended as rapidly as it began, with dramatic warming over around 50 years.
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