When the global climate has the hiccups

This chamber has the size of a football pitch and is located deep inside the cave. (Photo: University of Basel, Dominik Fleitmann) Climate changes usually happens over long periods of time, but during the last glacial period, extreme fluctuations in temperature occurred within just a few years. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to prove the phenomenon also occurred during the penultimate glacial period. In recent geological history, the so-called Quaternary period, there have been repeated ice ages and warm periods. Researchers are able to determine past climate variability from the composition of climate records. In the case of the last glacial period 100,000 years ago, ice cores from Greenland in particular provide researchers with detailed data. For example, Greenland ice cores show that there were repeated rapid increases in temperature.