MARINE EVIDENCE FOR CLIMATIC INSTABILITY DURING THE LAST INTERGLACIALIN SHELF RECORDS FROM NORTHWEST EUROPE

Data from the Greenland ice sheet and continental records from Europe have indicated climatic fluctuations during the last interglacial (Eem ian: Oxygen Isotope Substage 5e). Similar fluctuations have not, howev er, been documented previously from marine environments. Here, we show the existence of two cold events during substage 5e in two marine, be nthic foraminiferal, shelf records from northwest Europe and suggest t hat these cooling events are a result of fluctuations in the strength of the North Atlantic surface-water circulation.