Greenlandian

After the sudden rise in temperatures marking the end of the Late Pleistocene, global warming continued at a slightly more moderate pace during the Greenlandian. It was interrupted at the end of the period by the 8.2 kiloyear event, where the world experienced a relative drop in temperature. This isolated climate fluctuation was used to define the boundary between the Greenlandian and Northgrippian ages.

Global warming led to a rapid rise in sea levels, which engulfed vast regions that were once landforms and transformed portions of continents into islands. Affected areas include the British Isles, the Indonesian islands, and New Guinea and Tasmania, cut off from Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia respectively. Additionally, the Beringian land bridge was submerged by these rising levels, forming the Bering Strait and separating Asia from the Americas.

Paleofauna

Many species of megafauna became extinct during the Greenlandian, continuing the rate of extinctions from the end of the Late Pleistocene. These extinctions collectively constituted the Late Pleistocene extinction event.