Figure 5

Benthic d¹⁸O record from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 607 (41°N, 33°W) in the North Atlantic, plotted to the paleomagnetic time scale. The time line reads from right to left. This is a proxy for sea surface temperature. The inset at top is an expanded view of the record for the last 15,000 years. Note that pronounced cooling began around 2.9 Ma (million years ago). The glacial cycle began at 2.4 Ma, and operated on a 41,000 year cycle until about 700,000 years ago, when it transitioned to a 100,000 year cycle. Each 100,000 year glacial cycle terminates in a 10-15,000 year long "interglacial" of warmer and more stable climate. We are living in such an interglacial now, which began about 10,000 years ago. From Raymo 1994: Figure 1.

Home