Older Dryas

The Older Dryas was a brief cold interval during the last deglaciation, between the Bølling and Allerød warm intervals, roughly 14,000 years ago.

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Atlantic meridional overturning circulation: A system of Atlantic Ocean currents that transports heat between the tropics and higher latitudes. Changes in North Atlantic heat transport are a leading mechanism proposed for rapid deglacial temperature shifts.
Bølling: A warm interval during the last deglaciation that preceded the Older Dryas in many chronologies. The Older Dryas marks a cooling interruption following this earlier warming.
NGRIP ice core: A deep ice core drilled at the North Greenland Ice Core Project site. Its isotope record helps place abrupt Greenland climate changes in a precise sequence.
Late-glacial period: The final part of the last glacial period and the transition toward the present interglacial. The Older Dryas is a brief interruption within this climatically unstable period.
North Atlantic Oscillation: A pattern of atmospheric pressure variability that alters winds and weather around the North Atlantic. Atmospheric circulation changes offer another route to regional cooling during the interval.
Allerød: A warm interval during the last deglaciation that followed the Older Dryas. Its onset marks the warming that ended the Older Dryas.
Lake Suigetsu: A Japanese lake whose annually layered sediments preserve a long record of past environments. Its sediments provide an independently dated archive for comparing deglacial climate changes.
Deglacial sea-level rise: The rapid rise in global sea level as land-based ice sheets melted after the last glacial maximum. The interval occurred amid ongoing ice-sheet retreat, though its short cooling did not reverse sea-level rise.
Dansgaard–Oeschger event: An abrupt climate fluctuation recorded in Greenland ice, marked by rapid warming and slower cooling. The Older Dryas belongs to the broader pattern of abrupt climate changes during deglaciation.
Last deglaciation: The transition from the last glacial period to the present interglacial, beginning about 20,000 years ago. The Older Dryas is one short fluctuation within this longer transition.