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Figure 4.2. GISP2 estimates of global temperatures over the past two centuries. The Medieval
Warm Period and Little Ice Age are evident (M&M, p. 3; Grootes et al., 1993).
Figure 4.3. Ice core estimates of global temperatures during the past 12,000 years (M&M, p. 3).
stand out in this figure: (1) evidence of an ice age prior to about 10,000 years ago
and (2) occasional dramatic upward jumps in temperature during the Ice Age.
There does not seem to be an entirely satisfactory explanation for these wild
oscillations.
Figure 4.6
shows GISP2 data extending back 100,000 years. This
figure clearly shows that temperatures fluctuated rather wildly throughout the last
ice age. Finally,
Figure 4.7
shows the longest term data, dating back to the last
interglacial prior to the most recent ice age.
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