Editing Last Interglacial (section)

===Global temperatures===
The Last Interglacial climate is believed to have been warmer than the current Holocene.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.temperaturerecord.org/ |title = Current & Historical Global Temperature Graph}}</ref><ref>Arctic Council, Impacts of a Warming Climate: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 2004</ref> The temperature of the Last Interglacial peaked during the early part of the period, around 128,000 to 123,000 years [[Before Present]], before declining during the latter half of the period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bova |first1=Samantha |last2=Rosenthal |first2=Yair |last3=Liu |first3=Zhengyu |last4=Godad |first4=Shital P. |last5=Yan |first5=Mi |date=2021-01-28 |title=Seasonal origin of the thermal maxima at the Holocene and the last interglacial |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03155-x |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=589 |issue=7843 |pages=548–553 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-03155-x |pmid=33505038 |bibcode=2021Natur.589..548B |s2cid=231767101 |issn=0028-0836}}</ref> Changes in the Earth's orbital parameters from today (greater obliquity and eccentricity, and perihelion), known as [[Milankovitch cycles]], probably led to greater seasonal temperature variations in the Northern Hemisphere.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} As the Last Interglacial cooled, [[PCO2|''p''CO<sub>2</sub>]] remained stable.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brovkin |first1=Victor |last2=Brücher |first2=Tim |last3=Kleinen |first3=Thomas |last4=Zaehle |first4=Sönke |last5=Joos |first5=Fortunat |last6=Roth |first6=Raphael |last7=Spahni |first7=Renato |last8=Schmitt |first8=Jochen |last9=Fischer |first9=Hubertus |last10=Leuenberger |first10=Markus |last11=Stone |first11=Emma J. |last12=Ridgwell |first12=Andy |last13=Chappellaz |first13=Jérôme |last14=Kehrwald |first14=Natalie |last15=Barbante |first15=Carlo |date=1 April 2016 |title=Comparative carbon cycle dynamics of the present and last interglacial |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=137 |pages=15–32 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.01.028 |issn=0277-3791 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2016QSRv..137...15B |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0027-AE16-0 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

During the northern summer, temperatures in the Arctic region were about 2–4&nbsp;°C higher than in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncas.ac.uk/en/climate-blog/397-warm-past-climates-is-our-future-in-the-past|title=Warm past climates: is our future in the past?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813004809/https://www.ncas.ac.uk/en/climate-blog/397-warm-past-climates-is-our-future-in-the-past|archive-date=13 August 2018|work=The National Centre for Atmospheric Science|year=2011|author=Nathaelle Bouttes}}<!-- Bouttes states that she attended an Oct 2011 meeting "a few months ago", and refers to research papers from 2011 at the latest, so the blog date is end 2011/early 2012. --></ref> The Arctic Last Interglacial climate was highly unstable, with pronounced temperature swings revealed by [[Δ18O|δ<sup>18</sup>O]] fluctuations in Greenlandic ice cores,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Johnsen |first1=Sigfús J. |last2=Clausen |first2=Henrik B. |last3=Dansgaard |first3=Willi |last4=Gundestrup |first4=Niels S. |last5=Hammer |first5=Claus U. |last6=Andersen |first6=Uffe |last7=Andersen |first7=Katrine K. |last8=Hvidberg |first8=Christine S. |last9=Dahl-Jensen |first9=Dorthe |last10=Steffensen |first10=Jørgen P. |last11=Shoji |first11=Hitoshi |last12=Sveinbjörnsdóttir |first12=Árny E. |last13=White |first13=Jim |last14=Jouzel |first14=Jean |last15=Fisher |first15=David |date=30 November 1997 |title=The δ 18 O record along the Greenland Ice Core Project deep ice core and the problem of possible Eemian climatic instability |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans]] |language=en |volume=102 |issue=C12 |pages=26397–26410 |doi=10.1029/97JC00167 |doi-access=free }}</ref> though some of the instability inferred from [[Greenland ice core project]] records may be a result of mixing of Last Interglacial ice with ice from the preceding or succeeding glacial intervals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chappellaz |first1=Jérôme |last2=Brook |first2=Ed |last3=Blunier |first3=Thomas |last4=Malaizé |first4=Bruno |date=30 November 1997 |title=CH 4 and δ 18 O of O 2 records from Antarctic and Greenland ice: A clue for stratigraphic disturbance in the bottom part of the Greenland Ice Core Project and the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice cores |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans]] |language=en |volume=102 |issue=C12 |pages=26547–26557 |doi=10.1029/97JC00164 |issn=0148-0227 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The warmest peak of the Last Interglacial was around 125,000&nbsp;years ago, when forests reached as far north as [[North Cape, Norway]] (which is now [[tundra]]) well above the [[Arctic Circle]] at {{Coord|71|10|21|N|25|47|40|E|}}. [[Hardwood]] trees such as [[hazel]] and [[oak]] grew as far north as [[Oulu]], Finland. At the peak of the Last Interglacial, the Northern Hemisphere winters were generally warmer and wetter than now, though some areas were actually slightly cooler than today.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}  A cooling event similar to but not exactly mirroring the 8.2-kiloyear event is recorded from Beckentin during the E5 phase of the Eemian, some 6,290 years after the start of interglacial afforestation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hrynowiecka |first1=Anna |last2=Stachowicz-Rybka |first2=Renata |last3=Niska |first3=Monika |last4=Moskal-del Hoyo |first4=Magdalena |last5=Börner |first5=Andreas |last6=Rother |first6=Henrik |date=20 December 2021 |title=Eemian (MIS 5e) climate oscillations based on palaeobotanical analysis from the Beckentin profile (NE Germany) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618221000501 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=605-606 |pages=38–54 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2021.01.025 |bibcode=2021QuInt.605...38H |s2cid=234039540 |access-date=6 March 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> A 2018 study based on soil samples from [[Sokli]] in northern [[Finland]] identified abrupt cold spells ca.&nbsp;120,000&nbsp;years ago caused by shifts in the [[North Atlantic Current]], lasting hundreds of years and causing temperature drops of a few degrees and vegetation changes in these regions. In Northern Europe, winter temperatures rose over the course of the Last Interglacial while summer temperatures fell.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Salonen |first1=J. Sakari |last2=Helmens |first2=Karin F. |last3=Brendryen |first3=Jo |last4=Kuosmanen |first4=Niina |last5=Väliranta |first5=Minna |last6=Goring |first6=Simon |last7=Korpela |first7=Mikko |last8=Kylander |first8=Malin |last9=Philip |first9=Annemarie |last10=Plikk |first10=Anna |last11=Renssen |first11=Hans |last12=Luoto |first12=Miska |date=20 July 2018 |title=Abrupt high-latitude climate events and decoupled seasonal trends during the Eemian |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=2851 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-05314-1 |issn=2041-1723 |doi-access=free |pmid=30030443 |pmc=6054633 |bibcode=2018NatCo...9.2851S }}</ref> During an insolation maximum from 133,000 to 130,000 BP, meltwater from the [[Dnieper]] and [[Volga]] caused the Black and Caspian Seas to connect.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wegwerth |first1=Antje |last2=Dellwig |first2=Olaf |last3=Wulf |first3=Sabine |last4=Plessen |first4=Birgit |last5=Kleinhanns |first5=Ilka C. |last6=Nowaczyk |first6=Norbert R. |last7=Jiabo |first7=Liu |last8=Arz |first8=Helge W. |date=1 September 2019 |title=Major hydrological shifts in the Black Sea "Lake" in response to ice sheet collapses during MIS 6 (130–184 ka BP) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379119304548 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=219 |pages=126–144 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.008 |bibcode=2019QSRv..219..126W |s2cid=200048431 |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=21 September 2023}}</ref> During the middle of the Last Interglacial, a weakened [[Atlantic meridional overturning circulation|Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation]] (AMOC) began to cool the eastern Mediterranean region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=Elan J. |last2=Vonhof |first2=Hubert B. |last3=Bar-Matthews |first3=Miryam |last4=Martínez-García |first4=Alfredo |last5=Ayalon |first5=Avner |last6=Matthews |first6=Alan |last7=Silverman |first7=Vered |last8=Raveh-Rubin |first8=Shira |last9=Zilberman |first9=Tami |last10=Yasur |first10=Gal |last11=Schmitt |first11=Mareike |last12=Haug |first12=Gerald H. |date=25 August 2023 |title=Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=5180 |doi=10.1038/s41467-023-40880-z |pmid=37620353 |pmc=10449873 |issn=2041-1723 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023NatCo..14.5180L }}</ref> The period closed as temperatures steadily fell to conditions cooler and drier than the present, with a 468-year-long aridity pulse in central Europe at about 116,000&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sirocko |first1=F. |last2=Seelos |first2=K. |last3=Schaber |first3=K. |last4=Rein |first4=B. |last5=Dreher |first5=F. |last6=Diehl |first6=M. |last7=Lehne |first7=R. |last8=Jäger |first8=K. |last9=Krbetschek |first9=M. |last10=Degering |first10=D. |date=11 August 2005 |title=A late Eemian aridity pulse in central Europe during the last glacial inception |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03905#citeas |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=436 |issue=7052 |pages=833–6 |bibcode=2005Natur.436..833S |doi=10.1038/nature03905 |pmid=16094365 |s2cid=4328192 |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> and by 112,000&nbsp;BC, ice caps began to form in southern Norway, marking the start of a new [[glacial period]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Holmlund |first1=P. |last2=Fastook |first2=J. |date=1995 |title=A time dependent glaciological model of the Weichselian Ice Sheet |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/104061829400060I |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=27 |pages=53–58 |doi=10.1016/1040-6182(94)00060-I |bibcode=1995QuInt..27...53H |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> The Eemian lasted about 1,500 to 3,000 years longer in Southern Europe than in Northern Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lauterbach |first1=Stefan |last2=Neumann |first2=Frank H. |last3=Tjallingii |first3=Rik |last4=Brauer |first4=Achim |date=12 February 2024 |title=Re-investigation of the Bispingen palaeolake sediment succession (northern Germany) reveals that the Last Interglacial (Eemian) in northern-central Europe lasted at least ~15 000 years |journal=[[Boreas (journal)|Boreas]] |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=243–261 |doi=10.1111/bor.12649 |issn=0300-9483 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Kaspar ''et al.'' (GRL, 2005) performed a comparison of a coupled [[general circulation model]] (GCM) with reconstructed Last Interglacial temperatures for Europe. Central Europe (north of the Alps) was found to be {{convert|1|-|2|C-change}} warmer than present; south of the Alps, conditions were 1–2&nbsp;°C cooler than today. The model (generated using observed greenhouse gas concentrations and Last Interglacial orbital parameters) generally reproduces these observations, leading them to conclude that these factors are enough to explain the Last Interglacial temperatures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kaspar |first1=F. |last2=Kühl |first2=Norbert |last3=Cubasch |first3=Ulrich |last4=Litt |first4=Thomas |year=2005 |title=A model-data comparison of European temperatures in the Eemian interglacial |url=http://edoc.mpg.de/256350 |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |volume=32 |issue=11 |pages=L11703 |bibcode=2005GeoRL..3211703K |doi=10.1029/2005GL022456 |s2cid=38387245 |hdl-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0011-FED3-9}}</ref>

Meltwater pulse 2B, approximately 133,000 BP, substantially weakened the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wassenburg |first1=Jasper A. |last2=Vonhof |first2=Hubert B. |last3=Cheng |first3=Hai |last4=Martínez-García |first4=Alfredo |last5=Ebner |first5=Pia-Rebecca |last6=Li |first6=Xianglei |last7=Zhang |first7=Haiwei |last8=Sha |first8=Lijuan |last9=Tian |first9=Ye |last10=Edwards |first10=R. Lawrence |last11=Fiebig |first11=Jens |last12=Haug |first12=Gerald H. |date=18 November 2021 |title=Penultimate deglaciation Asian monsoon response to North Atlantic circulation collapse |journal=[[Nature Geoscience]] |language=en |volume=14 |issue=12 |pages=937–941 |doi=10.1038/s41561-021-00851-9 |issn=1752-0908 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021NatGe..14..937W |hdl=20.500.11850/519155 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Trees grew as far north as southern [[Baffin Island]] in the [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Canadian Arctic islands|Arctic Archipelago]]: currently, the northern limit is further south at [[Kuujjuaq]] in northern [[Quebec]]. Coastal Alaska was warm enough during the summer due to reduced sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to allow [[Saint Lawrence Island]] (now tundra) to have boreal forest, although inadequate precipitation caused a reduction in the forest cover in interior Alaska and Yukon Territory despite warmer conditions.<ref>[http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/archive/lite/alaska/alaska.html Vegetation and paleoclimate of the last interglacial period, central Alaska]. USGS</ref> The prairie-forest boundary in the [[Great Plains]] of the [[United States]] lay further west near [[Lubbock, Texas]], whereas the current boundary is near [[Dallas]].

Interglacial conditions ended on Antarctica while the Northern Hemisphere was still experiencing warmth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Landais |first=Amaelle |date=16 September 2003 |title=A tentative reconstruction of the last interglacial and glacial inception in Greenland based on new gas measurements in the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research]] |language=en |volume=108 |issue=D18 |page=4563 |doi=10.1029/2002JD003147 |issn=0148-0227 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2003JGRD..108.4563L }}</ref>[[Image:All palaeotemps.svg|800px|center]]