DO GREENLAND ICE CORES REFLECT NW EUROPEAN INTERGLACIAL CLIMATE VARIATIONS

The climatic evolution during the Eemian and the Holocene in western E urope is compared with the sea-surface conditions in the Norwegian Sea and with the oxygen-isotope-derived paleotemperature signal in the GR IP and Renland ice cores from Greenland. The records show a warm phase (ca. 3000 yr long) early in the Eemian (substage 5e). This suggests t hat the Greenland ice sheet, in general, recorded the climate in the r egion during this time. Rapid fluctuations during late stage 6 and lat e substage 5e in the GRIP ice core apparently are not recorded in the climatic proxies from western Europe and the Norwegian Sea. This may b e due to low resolution in the terrestrial and marine records and/or l ong response time of the biotic changes. The early Holocene climatic o ptimum recorded in the terrestrial and marine records in the Norwegian Sea-NW European region is not found in the Summit (GRIP and GISP2) ic e cores. However, this warm phase is recorded in the Renland ice core. Due to the proximity of Renland to the Norwegian Sea, this area is pr obably more influenced by changes in polar front positions which may p artly explain this discrepancy. A reduction in the elevation at Summit during the Holocene may, however, be just as important. The high-ampl itude shifts during substage 5e in the GRIP core could be due to Atlan tic water oscillating closer to, and also reaching, the coast of East Greenland. During the Holocene, Atlantic water was generally located f arther east in the Norwegian Sea than during the Eemian. (C) 1995 Univ ersity of Washington.