Two ice core temperature records; the Eemian is at a depth of about 1500-1800 meters in the lower graph

The Eemian interglacial era (known as the Sangamon interglacial in North America, the Ipswichian interglacial in the UK, and the Riss-Würm interglacial in the Alps) is the second-to-latest interglacial era of the Ice Age. It began about 131,000 years ago. Changes in orbital parameters from today (greater obliquity and eccentricity, and perihelion), known as the Milankovitch cycle, probably led to greater seasonal temperature variations in the Northern Hemisphere, although global annual means temperatures were probably similar to those of the Holocene. The Eemian climate is believed to have been about as stable as the Holocene (see ice core), except that it may have been warmer than the Holocene. The warmest peak of the Eemian was around 125,000 years ago, when forests reached as far north as North Cape (which is now tundra) in northern Norway well above the Arctic Circle at 71°10′21″N, 25°47′40″E. Hardwood trees like hazel and oak grew as far north as Oulu, Finland. Sea levels at that time were 5-8 meters higher than they are now, possibly indicating greater deglaciation than today (mostly from partial melting of the ice sheet of Greenland).(Aber 2004) Scandinavia was an island due to the inundation of vast areas of northern Europe and the West Siberian Plain. Image File history File links Plots of delta-o-18 against age and depth (from EPICA and Vostok) Note that the Vostok core is deeper, but does not extend so far back in time. ... Image File history File links Plots of delta-o-18 against age and depth (from EPICA and Vostok) Note that the Vostok core is deeper, but does not extend so far back in time. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Ipswich is a Borough which is the county town of Suffolk in East Anglia, England, and a local government district on the estuary of the River Orwell. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... This article or section should be merged with Orbital forcing Milankovitch cycles is the name given to the collective effect of changes in the Earths movements upon its climate. ... The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... Ice Core sample taken from drill. ... The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... Midnight sun at the North Cape North Cape (foreground), Knivskjellodden (background) North Cape is a cape on the island of Magerøya in northern Norway, in the community of Nordkapp. ... In physical geography, tundra is an area where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ... Beech is a typical temperate zone hardwood The term hardwood designates wood from angiosperm trees. ... This article is about the tree; for other meanings of hazel, see Hazel (disambiguation). ... Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus. ... City Oulu (1605) Administrative Province Oulu province Historical Province Ostrobothnia Area (2004-01-01)  â€“ Total (excl. ... An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²). The only current ice sheets are Antarctic and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe named after the Scandinavian Peninsula. ... Northern Europe is marked in dark blue Northern Europe is a name of the northern part of the European continent. ... The West Siberian Plain (Russian: За́падно-Сиби́рская равни́на) is a large plain that occupies the western portion of Siberia in Russia, between the Ural Mountains in the west and the Yenisei River in the east. ...

At the peak of the Eemian, the northern hemisphere winters were generally warmer and wetter than now, though some areas were actually slightly cooler than today. Trees grew as far north as southern Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago instead of only as far north as Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec, and the prairie-forest boundary in the Great Plains of the United States lay further west — near Lubbock, Texas, instead of near Dallas, Texas, where the boundary now exists. The era quickly cooled to conditions cooler and drier than the present, and by 114,000 years ago, a glacial era had returned. Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. ... Reference map of Canadian arctic islands. ... Kuujjuaq is the principal settlement in Nunavik. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water    (% of total)  Ranked 1st 1,542,056 km² 1,183,128 km² 176,928... The Great Plains is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States of America and Canada, covering all or parts of the U.S. states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota and the... Nickname: Hub City Official website: www. ... Nickname: Big D Official website: www. ...

Kaspar et al. (GRL, 2005) perform a comparison of a coupled GCM with reconstructed Eemian temperatures for Europe. Central Europe (north of the Alps) is found to be 1-2°C warmer than present; south of the alps conditions are 1-2°C cooler than today. The model (forced with observed GHG concentrations and Eemian orbital parameters) generally reproduces these observations, and hence they conclude that these factors are enough to explain the Eemian temperatures.

Sea level

Sea level at peak was probably 4-6m higher than today (references in Overpeck et al.), with much of this coming from Greenland but some likely to have come from Antarctica. Global mean sea surface temperatures are not though to have been significantly higher than holocene, hence the thermal expansion difference from today is small.

Ipswichian interglacial

This name is used by British geologists and archaeologists who named it after the town of Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk, where some of the deposits it created were first found. A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... For other places and usages with this name, see Ipswich (disambiguation). ... Suffolk (pronounced SUF-fk) is a large traditional and administrative county in the East Anglia region of eastern England. ...

See also

• Timeline of glaciation

There have been four major periods of glaciation in the Earths past. ...

References

• Kaspar, F et al.; GRL 2005, v32 L11703
• Jonathan T. Overpeck, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Gifford H. Miller, Daniel R. Muhs,

Richard B. Alley, Jeffrey T. Kiehl, Paleoclimatic Evidence for Future Ice-Sheet Instability and Rapid Sea-Level Rise, Science 311 24 March 2006.