Current data are not accurate enough to identify whether
warming started earlier in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) or Northern Hemisphere (NH), but a major deglacial feature is the difference between North and South in terms of the magnitude and timing of strong reversals in the
warming trend, which are not in
phase between the hemispheres and are more
pronounced in the NH (Blunier and Brook, 2001).
A more frequent or more
pronounced negative
phase (as observed to a record extent during the very low solar minimum between cycles 23 and 24) is associated with a less active Sun due to
warming of the polar stratosphere (more mesospheric ozone descending through the polar vortex).