Fine-resolution pollen record of late-glacial climate reversal from New Zealand

The temporal relationship between rapid climate shifts in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at the end of the last glacial is crucial to understan ding how the global climate system functions during periods of major transi tion. A detailed Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude pollen record from a clim atically sensitive and well-dated upland site in New Zealand, unlike previo us interpretations, shows clear evidence of late-glacial climate changes si milar in structure to those in the Northern Hemisphere, including a cooling interval from ca. 11600 to 10700 C-14 yr B.P. Because the cooling interval occurred ca. 600 C-14 yr before the Younger Dryas chron, our record thus a lso suggests that some global climatic events during the last deglaciation may have registered earlier in the Southern Hemisphere.