Abstract
δ18O records from the GISP2 and GRIP ice cores are widely used as benchmark paleoclimate chronologies, but there are significant differences between the two time scales. The present study shows that offsets between the two chronologies over the past 14,500 yr do not accumulate gradually, but appear over two short intervals of 100–200 yr. An initial offset of 80 yr occurs close to 3300–3400 yr B.P., and another 100 yr of slip appears at the start of the Younger Dryas. Since these discrepancies are localized, resolving them may be far easier than if large sections of both cores required reexamination.