The Earth climate during the last 2 million years has been dominated by shifts between colder periods, known as Ice Ages or glacials, and warmer periods, known as interglacials. Whilst Ice Ages have tended to last for up to 100,000 years, the intervening interglacial periods have usually been much shorter in duration, at around 10,000 years in length.

The last interglacial occurred about 120,000 years ago. Today, the Earth's climate is again within an interglacial period.

Examples:

• Temperature Trends: Poster (564 KB)
• The AO/NAO phenomenon: Poster (464 KB)
• The Influence of Vegetation–Atmosphere–Ocean Interaction on Climate: pdf (400 KB) 
• Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation: pdf (136 KB)
• Carbon cycle, vegetation, and climate dynamics: Experiments with the CLIMBER-2 model: pdf (1,2 MB)
• Wie die Sahara zur Wüste wurde
• Comparison of the last interglacial climate: pdf (580 KB)
• Das Ende einer Warmzeit im Klimamodell: Poster (232 KB)