NEARLY SYNCHRONOUS CLIMATE-CHANGE IN THE NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE DURING THE LAST GLACIAL TERMINATION

The climate of the North Atlantic region underwent a series of abrupt cold/warm oscillations when the ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere retreated during the last glacial termination (17.7-11.5 kyr ago). Evi dence for these oscillations, which are recorded in European terrestri al sediments as the Oldest Dryas/Bolling/ Older Dryas/Allerod/Younger Dryas vegetational sequence(1,2), has been found in Greenland ice core s(3,4). The geographical extent of many of these oscillations is not w ell known(5,6), but the last major cold event (the Younger Dryas) seem s to have been global in extent(7-10). Here we present evidence of fou r major oscillations in the hydrological balance of the Owens basin, C alifornia, that occurred during the last glacial termination. Dry even ts in western North America occurred at approximately the same time as cold events recorded in Greenland ice, with transitions between clima te regimes in the two regions taking place within a few hundred years of each other. Our observations thus support recent climate simulation s which indicate that cooling of the North Atlantic Ocean results in c ooling of the North Pacific Ocean(11) which, in turn, leads to a drier climate in western North America(12).