Publication Abstracts

LeGrande 2009

LeGrande, A.N., 2009: The 8,200-year BP event. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. V. Gornitz, Ed., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, Springer, pp. 938-943.

The 8,200-year event, alternatively called the 8.2 kyr event or more simply the 8k evet, refers to the last major abrupt climate change, a Northern Hemisphere cooling event that occurred approximately 8,200 years before the present day. The event is the largest anmaly in the Greenland ice cores during the Holocene, a period otherwise marked by a relatively stable climate. Paleoclimate records from Europe, North America, South America, ad Africa indicate an abrupt cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Separate geologic evidence documents the collapse of the remnants of the Hudson Bay ice dome dam and subsequent catastrophic final drainage of glacial Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway in the Hudson Bay.

The pattern of cooling around the North Atlantic basin and related changes in precipitation patterns from paleoclimate studies of the 8.2 kyr event is consistent with a decrease in Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). This outpouring of glacial freshwater in a melt-water pulse has been widely hypothesized as a mechanism for abrupt climate change. Additional freshwater input into the North Atlantic descreases the density of surface watr and thus the formation of Morth ATlantic Deep Water; this decreased THC reduces the amount of heat transported by the Atlantic Ocean and causes widespread cooling.

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BibTeX Citation

@misc{le09200l,
  author={LeGrande, A. N.},
  editor={Gornitz, V.},
  title={The 8,200-year BP event},
  booktitle={Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments},
  year={2009},
  pages={938--943},
  publisher={Springer},
  address={Dordrecht, the Netherlands},
  series={Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - ENCYC
ID  - le09200l
AU  - LeGrande, A. N.
ED  - Gornitz, V.
PY  - 2009
TI  - The 8,200-year BP event
BT  - Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments
T3  - Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series
SP  - 938
EP  - 943
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht, the Netherlands
ER  -

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