CLIMATE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN GREENLAND AND ANTARCTICA DURING THE PAST100,000 YEARS

THE ice cores recovered from central Greenland by the GRIP(1,2) and GI SP2(3) projects record 22 interstadial (warm) events during the part o f the last glaciation spanning 20-105 kyr before present. The ice core from Vostok, east Antarctica, records nine interstadials during this period(4,5). Here we explore links between Greenland and Antarctic cli mate during the last glaciation using a high-resolution chronology der ived by correlating oxygen isotope data for trapped O-2 in the GISP2 a nd Vostok cores. We find that interstadials occurred in east Antarctic a whenever those in Greenland lasted longer than 2,000 years. Our resu lts suggest that partial deglaciation and changes in ocean circulation are partly responsible for the climate teleconnection between Greenla nd and Antarctica. Ice older than 115 kyr in the GISP2 core shows rapi d variations in the delta(18)O of O-2 that have no counterpart in the Vostok record. The age-depth relationship, and thus the climate record , in this part of the GISP2, core appears to be significantly disturbe d.