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An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene interglacial began at the end of the Pleistocene, about 11,700 years ago.
The Earth is currently in such an interglacial period of the Quaternary glaciation, with the Last Glacial Period of the Quaternary having ended approximately 11,700 years ago. The current interglacial is known as the Holocene epoch. [1] Based on climate proxies, paleoclimatologists study the different climate states originating from glaciation.
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 Interglacial, also known as the Eemian, was the interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago at the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period and ended about 115,000 years ago at the beginning of the Last Glacial Period. [1] It corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage 5e. [2]
The last glacial period reached its peak in the Last Glacial Maximum, between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago, and the Earth is now in an interglacial period. The oscillation between glacial and interglacial periods is due to the Milankovitch cycles. These are cycles that have to do with Earth's axial tilt and orbital eccentricity.
For a period to be considered an interglacial, it changes from Arctic through sub-Arctic to boreal to temperate conditions and back again. An interstadial reaches only the stage of boreal vegetation. [1] The MIS 1 interstadial encompasses the entirety of the present Holocene interglacial, but the Wisconsin glaciation encompasses MIS 2, 3, and 4.
It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. [4] The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene [5] together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 1.
Initially the glacial/interglacial cycle length was about 41,000 years, but following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition about 1 Ma, it slowed to about 100,000 years, as evidenced most clearly by ice cores for the past 800,000 years and marine sediment cores for the earlier period. Over the past 740,000 years there have been eight glacial cycles. [7]