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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 Glacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago. [1]
The MIS 1 interstadial encompasses the entirety of the present Holocene interglacial, but the Wisconsin glaciation encompasses MIS 2, 3, and 4. Glacials and interglacials refer to the 100,000-year cycles associated with Milankovitch cycles , and stadials and interstadials are defined by the actual oxygen-isotope temperature record.
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]
It was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age, the most recent being the Holocene which extends to the present day (having followed the last glacial period). During the Last Interglacial, the proportion of CO 2 in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million. [3]
Throughout Earth's climate history (Paleoclimate) its climate has fluctuated between two primary states: greenhouse and icehouse Earth. [1] Both climate states last for millions of years and should not be confused with the much smaller glacial and interglacial periods, which occur as alternating phases within an icehouse period (known as an ice age) and tend to last less than one million years ...
However, there is debate as to whether it is actually a separate epoch or merely an interglacial period within the Pleistocene epoch. [2] [3] Between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago there was a warm period called the Holocene climatic optimum. Being in an interglacial, there is less ice than there was during the last glacial period.