Objective To document the variability of the glacial and interglacial climates and determine the major mechanisms responsible for this variability. Precise 14C AMS dating, isotopic, geochemical, sedimentological, sediment magnetism and micropaleontological data will be generated in a series of deep North Atlantic sediment cores. This data set will provide a detailed reconstruction of the oceanic record of major examples of abrupt climatic changes, typical of the variability of the glacial and interglacial climates. The glacial examples to be investigated are two of the massive iceberg discharges, leading to major perturbations in the oceanic salt budget, which occurred during the last glaciation. Another case to be investigated is the succession of climatic events which occurred during the last interglacial. This study will address the issue of the stability of interglacial climates and the impact of the early cooling of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea (that weree recently discovered) on the oceanic and atmospheric circulation. To interpret the obtained reconstructions, several numerical experiments will be performed using 3-D general circulation models of the atmosphere and the ocean, run first in a forced mode and then fully coupled. These experiments, together with those performed with simpler models, should allow a better understanding of the feedbacks internal to the climate system (including the behaviour of the ocean and the CO2 cycle) and which are responsible for rapid transition from one climatic state to another. In addition, transient experiments will be conducted with 2-D coupled models of the climate system, helping to identify the role and potential importance of specific physical processes and components of the climate system for climatic changes. The data generated within the project will constitute a unique data base providing detailed reconstructions of temperature, salinity, and circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean and model simulations of the climate system during the last interglaciation and during the glaciation (before, during and after the iceberg discharge). As they may be used later by other scientists involved in paleoclimate reconstruction or modelling, they will be deposited in several European and international data bases open to public. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypaleoclimatologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorologyatmospheric circulationnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographyglaciology Programme(s) FP4-ENV 2C - Specific programme of research and technological development in the field of environment and climate, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 010102 - The climate system in the past Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) EU contribution No data Address Avenue de la Terrasse 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette France See on map Total cost No data Participants (7) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Christian-Albrechts Universität Kiel Germany EU contribution No data Address Olshausenstraße 40 24118 Kiel See on map Total cost No data Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) France EU contribution No data Address Centre d'Etudes de Saclay 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN Belgium EU contribution No data Address 2,Chemin du Cyclotron 2 1348 LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX I France EU contribution No data Address Avenue des Facultés 33405 TALENCE See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Norway EU contribution No data Address 41,Allégaten 41 5007 BERGEN See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF BERNE Switzerland EU contribution No data Address 5,Sidlerstrasse 5 3012 BERN See on map Total cost No data University of Cambridge United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Downing Street CB2 3EQ Cambridge See on map Total cost No data