Articles | Volume 20, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1521-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1521-2024
Research article
 | 
22 Jul 2024
Research article |  | 22 Jul 2024

Reconstructing Younger Dryas ground temperature and snow thickness from cave deposits

Paul Töchterle, Anna Baldo, Julian B. Murton, Frederik Schenk, R. Lawrence Edwards, Gabriella Koltai, and Gina E. Moseley

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Cited articles

Atkinson, T. C., Harmon, R. S., Smart, P. L., and Waltham, A. C.: Palaeoclimatic and geomorphic implications of 230Th/234U dates on speleothems from Britain, Nature, 272, 24–28, https://doi.org/10.1038/272024a0, 1978. 
Atkinson, T. C., Lawson, T. J., Smart, P. L., Harmon, R. S., and Hess, J. W.: New data on speleothem deposition and palaeoclimate in Britain over the last forty thousand years, J. Quaternary Sci., 1, 67–72, https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3390010108, 1986. 
Atkinson, T. C., Briffa, K. R., and Coope, G. R.: Seasonal temperatures in Britain during the past 22,000 years, reconstructed using beetle remains, Nature, 325, 587–592, https://doi.org/10.1038/325587a0, 1987. 
Austrian Science Fund (FWF): Northeast Greenland Speleothem Project, https://doi.org/10.55776/Y1162, 2019. 
Baker, A., Smart, P. L., and Edwards, R. L.: Mass spectrometric dating of flowstones from Stump Cross Caverns and Lancaster Hole, Yorkshire: palaeoclimate implications, J. Quaternary Sci., 11, 107–114, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199603/04)11:2<107:AID-JQS236>3.0.CO;2-E, 1996. 
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Short summary
We present a reconstruction of permafrost and snow cover on the British Isles for the Younger Dryas period, a time of extremely cold winters that happened approximately 12 000 years ago. Our results indicate that seasonal sea ice in the North Atlantic was most likely a crucial factor to explain the observed climate shifts during this time.