Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica

The recent completion of drilling at Vostok station in East Antarctica has allowed the extension of the ice record of atmospheric composition and clim ate to the past four glacial-interglacial cycles. The succession of changes through each climate cycle and termination was similar, and atmospheric;an d climate properties oscillated between stable bounds. Interglacial periods differed in temporal evolution and duration. Atmospheric: concentrations o f carbon dioxide and methane correlate well with Antarctic air-temperature throughout the record. Present-day atmospheric burdens of these two importa nt greenhouse gases seem to have been unprecedented during the past 420,000 years.