Direct comparison of UK temperatures and Greenland snow accumulation rates, 15000—12000 yr ago

A palaeotemperature record based on fossil coleopteran evidence and dated by accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) ¹⁴C determinations on plant macrofossils has been obtained for the last glacial-interglacial transition from the site of Gransmoor in eastern England. Calibration of the radiocarbon measurements enabled a direct comparison to be made between this palaeotemperature curve and the snow accumulation record from the GISP-2 Greenland ice-core. The similarity between the two data sets suggests a degree of correspondence in the pattern and timing of climatic change in Greenland and the British Isles at the end of the last cold stage.