Glacial period

For longer glacial periods, see ice age.
For film, see Ice Age (2002 film).

A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate between glacial periods. The Last Glacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago.[1] The Holocene is the current interglacial. A time with no glaciers on Earth is considered a greenhouse climate state.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ J. Severinghaus; E. Brook (1999). "Abrupt Climate Change at the End of the Last Glacial Period Inferred from Trapped Air in Polar Ice". Science. 286 (5441): 930–4. doi:10.1126/science.286.5441.930. PMID 10542141.
  2. ^ Bralower, T.J.; Premoli Silva, I.; Malone, M.J. (2006). Bralower, T.J; Premoli Silva, I; Malone, M.J (eds.). "Leg 198 Synthesis : A Remarkable 120-m.y. Record of Climate and Oceanography from Shatsky Rise, Northwest Pacific Ocean". Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program. Initial Reports. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program. 198. Proceedings of the Ocean drilling program.: 47. doi:10.2973/odp.proc.ir.198.2002. ISSN 1096-2158. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  3. ^ Christopher M. Fedo; Grant M. Young; H. Wayne Nesbitt (1997). "Paleoclimatic control on the composition of the Paleoproterozoic Serpent Formation, Huronian Supergroup, Canada: a greenhouse to icehouse transition". Precambrian Research. 86 (3–4). Elsevier: 201. Bibcode:1997PreR...86..201F. doi:10.1016/S0301-9268(97)00049-1.
  4. ^ Miriam E. Katz; Kenneth G. Miller; James D. Wright; Bridget S. Wade; James V. Browning; Benjamin S. Cramer; Yair Rosenthal (2008). "Stepwise transition from the Eocene greenhouse to the Oligocene icehouse". Nature Geoscience. 1 (5). Nature: 329. Bibcode:2008NatGe...1..329K. doi:10.1038/ngeo179.