Editing Last Interglacial (section)

{{short description|Interglacial period which began 130,000 years ago}}
[[Image:EPICA delta D plot.svg|thumb|right|Two ice core temperature records; the Last Interglacial is at a depth of about 1500–1800 meters in the lower graph]]
[[File:Carbon Dioxide 800kyr.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|{{CO2}} concentrations over the last 800,000 years as measured from ice cores]]
The '''Last Interglacial''', also known as the '''Eemian''', was the [[interglacial period]] which began about 130,000 years ago at the end of the [[Penultimate Glacial Period]] and ended about 115,000 years ago at the beginning of the [[Last Glacial Period]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dahl-Jensen |first1=D. |last2=Albert |first2=M. R. |last3=Aldahan |first3=A. |last4=Azuma |first4=N. |last5=Balslev-Clausen |first5=D. |last6=Baumgartner |first6=M. |last7=Berggren |first7=A.-M. |last8=Bigler |first8=M. |last9=Binder |first9=T. |last10=Blunier |first10=T. |last11=Bourgeois |first11=J. C. |last12=Brook |first12=E. J. |last13=Buchardt |first13=S. L. |last14=Buizert |first14=C. |last15=Capron |first15=E. |display-authors=6 |year=2013 |title=Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core |url=http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/500331/1/2012-07-09846-NEEM_revised.pdf |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=493 |issue=7433 |pages=489–494 |bibcode=2013Natur.493..489N |doi=10.1038/nature11789 |pmid=23344358 |s2cid=4420908 |last16=Chappellaz |first16=J. |last17=Chung |first17=J. |last18=Clausen |first18=H. B. |last19=Cvijanovic |first19=I. |last20=Davies |first20=S. M. |last21=Ditlevsen |first21=P. |last22=Eicher |first22=O. |last23=Fischer |first23=H. |last24=Fisher |first24=D. A. |last25=Fleet |first25=L. G. |last26=Gfeller |first26=G. |last27=Gkinis |first27=V. |last28=Gogineni |first28=S. |last29=Goto-Azuma |first29=K. |last30=Grinsted |first30=A.}}</ref> It corresponds to [[Marine Isotope Stage 5|Marine Isotope Stage 5e]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shackleton |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Sánchez-Goñi |first2=Maria Fernanda |last3=Pailler |first3=Delphine |last4=Lancelot |first4=Yves |year=2003 |title=Marine Isotope Substage 5e and the Eemian Interglacial |url=http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_5241_f09/media/Readings/shackletonetal.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Global and Planetary Change]] |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=151–155 |bibcode=2003GPC....36..151S |citeseerx=10.1.1.470.1677 |doi=10.1016/S0921-8181(02)00181-9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183334/http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_5241_f09/media/Readings/shackletonetal.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date=2014-08-07}}</ref> It was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age, the most recent being the [[Holocene]] which extends to the present day (having followed the [[last glacial period]]). During the Last Interglacial, the proportion of {{CO2}} in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mashable.com/2018/08/27/earth-warmest-temperatures-climate-change|title=Earth is the warmest it's been in 120,000 years|first=Mark |last=Kaufman |date=27 August 2018|work=Mashable}}</ref> The Last Interglacial was one of the warmest periods of the last 800,000 years, with temperatures comparable to and at times warmer (by up to on average 2 degrees Celsius) than the contemporary Holocene interglacial,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shackleton |first1=S. |last2=Baggenstos |first2=D. |last3=Menking |first3=J. A. |last4=Dyonisius |first4=M. N. |last5=Bereiter |first5=B. |last6=Bauska |first6=T. K. |last7=Rhodes |first7=R. H. |last8=Brook |first8=E. J. |last9=Petrenko |first9=V. V. |last10=McConnell |first10=J. R. |last11=Kellerhals |first11=T. |last12=Häberli |first12=M. |last13=Schmitt |first13=J. |last14=Fischer |first14=H. |last15=Severinghaus |first15=J. P. |date=2020-01-02 |title=Global ocean heat content in the Last Interglacial |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0498-0 |journal=Nature Geoscience |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=77–81 |doi=10.1038/s41561-019-0498-0 |bibcode=2020NatGe..13...77S |s2cid=209897368 |issn=1752-0894}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Zoë A. |last2=Jones |first2=Richard T. |last3=Turney |first3=Chris S. M. |last4=Golledge |first4=Nicholas |last5=Fogwill |first5=Christopher |last6=Bradshaw |first6=Corey J. A. |last7=Menviel |first7=Laurie |last8=McKay |first8=Nicholas P. |last9=Bird |first9=Michael |last10=Palmer |first10=Jonathan |last11=Kershaw |first11=Peter |last12=Wilmshurst |first12=Janet |last13=Muscheler |first13=Raimund |date=April 2020 |title=Tipping elements and amplified polar warming during the Last Interglacial |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379119309205 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=233 |pages=106222 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106222|bibcode=2020QSRv..23306222T |s2cid=216288524 }}</ref> with the maximum sea level being up to 6 to 9 metres higher than at present, with global ice volume likely also being smaller than the Holocene interglacial.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barlow |first1=Natasha L. M. |last2=McClymont |first2=Erin L. |last3=Whitehouse |first3=Pippa L. |last4=Stokes |first4=Chris R. |last5=Jamieson |first5=Stewart S. R. |last6=Woodroffe |first6=Sarah A. |last7=Bentley |first7=Michael J. |last8=Callard |first8=S. Louise |last9=Ó Cofaigh |first9=Colm |last10=Evans |first10=David J. A. |last11=Horrocks |first11=Jennifer R. |last12=Lloyd |first12=Jerry M. |last13=Long |first13=Antony J. |last14=Margold |first14=Martin |last15=Roberts |first15=David H. |date=September 2018 |title=Lack of evidence for a substantial sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0195-4 |journal=Nature Geoscience |language=en |volume=11 |issue=9 |pages=627–634 |doi=10.1038/s41561-018-0195-4 |bibcode=2018NatGe..11..627B |s2cid=135048938 |issn=1752-0894}}</ref>

The Last Interglacial is known as the Eemian in northern Europe (sometimes used to describe the global interglacial), Ipswichian in Britain, the Mikulino (also spelled Milukin) interglacial in Russia, the Kaydaky in Ukraine, the Valdivia interglacial in [[Chile]], and the Riss-Würm interglacial in the [[Alps]]. Depending on how a specific publication defines the [[Sangamonian]] Stage of North America, the Last Interglacial is equivalent to either all or part of it.

The period falls into the [[Middle Paleolithic]] and is of some interest for the evolution of [[anatomically modern human]]s, who were present in [[Western Asia]] ([[Skhul and Qafzeh hominins]]) as well as in [[Peopling of Africa|Southern Africa]] by this time, representing the earliest split of modern human populations that persists to the present time (associated with [[Haplogroup L0|mitochondrial haplogroup L0]]).<ref>M Richards et al. in: Bandelt et al. (eds.), ''Human Mitochondrial DNA and the Evolution of Homo sapiens'', Springer (2006), p. 233.</ref> As the most recent point in time with a climate comparable to the Holocene, the Last Interglacial is also of relevance as a point of reference ([[Shifting baseline syndrome|baseline]]) for nature conservation.