Record of pollen, silt and greyscale stack from the Eifel Laminated Sediment Archive (ELSA)

Investigating the processes that led to the end of the last interglacial period is relevant for understanding how our ongoing interglacial will end, which has been a matter of much debate. A recent ice core from Greenland demonstrates climate cooling from 122,000 years ago driven by orbitally controlled insolation, with glacial inception at 118,000 years ago. Here we present an annually resolved, layer-counted record of varve thickness, quartz grain size and pollen assemblages from a maar lake in the Eifel (Germany), which documents a late Eemian aridity pulse lasting 468 years with dust storms, aridity, bushfire and a decline of thermophilous trees at the time of glacial inception. We interpret the decrease in both precipitation and temperature as an indication of a close link of this extreme climate event to a sudden southward shift of the position of the North Atlantic drift, the ocean current that brings warm surface waters to the northern European region. […]

探讨导致上一间冰期终结的过程，对于理解我们当前间冰期如何结束这一备受争议的问题具有重要意义。近期从格陵兰获得的冰芯数据展示了122,000年前由轨道控制的太阳辐射引起的气候变冷，以及118,000年前冰川的开始。本研究从德国艾费尔地区（Eifel）的一个玛尔湖中，提供了一项以年为单位分辨率、层计数记录的沉积层厚度、石英颗粒尺寸和花粉组合的详细资料，记录了持续468年的晚厄姆利亚期（Eemian）干旱脉冲，期间出现了沙尘暴、干旱、灌木丛火灾以及热中性树木数量的下降。我们将降水和温度的降低解释为这一极端气候事件与北大西洋漂流（即为北欧地区带来温暖表层水的洋流）位置突然向南移动的密切联系。