Termination, as used by

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

s, and

paleoclimatologist Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important t ...

s is the period of time during a glacial cycle when there is a relatively rapid transition from full

glacial 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 betwe ...

climates to full

interglacial 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 i ...

climates. For the Quaternary period, terminations are numbered using

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ...

from the most recent termination as “I” and with increasing value, e.g. “II”, “III”, and so forth, into the past. Termination I, also known as the Last Glacial Termination, is the end of Marine isotope stage 2; Termination II is the end of Marine Isotope Stage 6; Termination III is the end of Marine Isotope Stage 8; Termination IV is the end of Marine Isotope Stage 10, and so forth.Paillard, D. (2009) ''“Last Glacial Termination” '' In ''Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments'', ed. V. Gornitz, pp. 495–498. Dordrecht: Springer.Denton, G.H., R.F. Anderson, J.R. Toggweiler, R.L. Edwards, J.M. Schaefer, and A.E. Putnam (2010) ''The Last Glacial Termination.'' Science. 328:1652-1656. During the Quaternary, global climate experienced a recurring pattern of ice-sheet growth and decay. The length of Late Quaternary cycles varied between 80,000 and 120,000 years, with an average recurrence interval of about 100,000 years. The typical Late Quaternary glacial cycle was asymmetric having a long cooling interval that was characterized by an oscillating buildup of ice sheets to maximum volume. The long cooling interval was then followed by a relatively short warming period. During this warming period, called a ''termination,''Broecker, W.S., and J. van Donk (1970) ''Insolation changes, ice volumes and the O18 record in deep-sea cores.'' Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8:169–197. huge

Northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

s melted away;

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

rose about ; and interglacial climate emerged across the planet in a few thousand years. In case of the termination of the last glacial cycle, the retreat of continental ice sheets in the Northern hemisphere began about 20,000 calendar years ago. By about 7,000 calendar years ago, a small

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical feat ...

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

was all that was left of the great Laurentide Ice Sheet that had once covered northern North America. In Antarctica, the last termination began about 18,000 years ago and interglacial climate was attained close to 11,000 years ago.

References

Glaciology Paleoclimatology Paleoceanography {{glaciology-stub