Younger Dryas: Catastrophic rapid cooling event 12,900 years ago. The Younger Dryas was not an isolated event; there were events leading up to and following it that were collected around that period The onset of the Younger Dryas was catastrophic, marking a rapid cooling event around 12,900 years ago About 1,300 years before the Younger Dryas appears, there was an earlier event
The Younger Dryas was a catastrophic rapid cooling event around 12,900 years ago, not isolated but part of a series of climate swings. The onset was abrupt and catastrophic, reversing the deglaciation warming, until temperatures shot up nearly instantaneously.
Key Facts
- The Younger Dryas was not an isolated event; there were events leading up to and following it that were collected around that period
- The onset of the Younger Dryas was catastrophic, marking a rapid cooling event around 12,900 years ago
- About 1,300 years before the Younger Dryas appears, there was an earlier event
- The Younger Dryas involved the sudden refreezing of the global climate, terminating the flow of meltwater from ice sheets
- Deep sea sediment cores and lake records show the transition was the most obvious feature of the entire record
- The end of the Younger Dryas saw temperature shoot up almost instantaneously into modern Holocene averages
- The Younger Dryas represents a significant climate reversal that interrupted the deglaciation warming
Source: Cold War Secrets and The Discovery of Catastrophic Climate Change by The Randall Carlson