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Read science articles on the ice age, glaciation and climatology. Discover the connection between ice ages and global warming.
Updated: 2 hours 32 min ago

Additional threat to Antarctica’s floating ice shelves

Mon, 09/27/2021 - 14:05
Ice melange, a slushy mixture of snow and ice chunks, can heal large rifts in Antarctica's ice shelves. Researchers found that a thinning of ice melange may have enabled a Delaware-sized iceberg to break off from the Larsen C ice shelf in 2017. A new article has the scientists' analysis of the dynamics behind large iceberg calving events.

Geologists solve half-century-old mystery of animal traces in ancient rocks

Mon, 09/27/2021 - 14:04
Geologists have been baffled by perforations in an Australian quartzite (rock), identical in shape to burrows made in sands by crustaceans; the original sandy sediment is a billion years older than the oldest known animals. An international team of scientists has now resolved the mystery.

Earliest evidence of human activity found in the Americas

Thu, 09/23/2021 - 15:13
Footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico confirm human presence over at least two millennia, with the oldest tracks dating back 23,000 years.

Artificial intelligence may be set to reveal climate-change tipping points

Thu, 09/23/2021 - 07:29
Researchers are developing artificial intelligence that could assess climate change tipping points. The deep learning algorithm could act as an early warning system against runaway climate change.

Over 120 scientific experts’ global ocean report shows unprecedented climate change impact, as Arctic registers record low ice levels

Wed, 09/22/2021 - 19:18
Arctic ice levels logged in the last two years have reached record lows, whilst per decade have -- on average since 1979 to 2020 -- dropped by nearly 13%, a new vast report on the ocean worldwide shows.

Records from Lake Magadi, Kenya, suggest environmental variability driven by changes in Earth’s orbit

Tue, 09/21/2021 - 12:43
Rift Valley lakes within eastern Africa range from freshwater to highly alkaline systems and are homes to diverse ecosystems. These Rift Valley lakes are also sedimentary repositories, yielding a high-resolution environmental record that can be targeted to better understand the environmental and climatic context of human evolution over the past few million years in eastern Africa.

How do higher waves cause more ice clouds? Research expedition into arctic sea explains

Fri, 09/17/2021 - 08:04
Global warming is causing a rapid decline in sea-ice area, which affects weather patterns and, surprisingly, increases wave height in the Arctic. In a new study, Japanese scientists analyzed data from a 2018 research expedition into Chukchi Sea to demonstrate the peculiar link that exists between sea spray induced by high waves and the formation of ice-containing clouds. Their results pave the way for more accurate climate change and sea-ice models.

New ocean temperature data help scientists make their hot predictions

Tue, 09/14/2021 - 09:00
So many climate models, so little time ... A new way of measuring ocean temperatures helps scientists sort the likely from unlikely scenarios of global warming.

Jet stream changes could amplify weather extremes by 2060s

Mon, 09/13/2021 - 21:02
The ribbon of fast winds familiar to air travelers between North America and Europe is a big influencer on weather in North America and Europe. By drilling deep into the Greenland Ice Sheet, researchers reconstructed the jet stream's past and found that climate-caused disruptions are likely to have drastic weather-related consequences for societies on both sides of the Atlantic.

A recent reversal in the response of western Greenland’s ice caps to climate change

Thu, 09/09/2021 - 15:22
Greenland may be best known for its enormous continental scale ice sheet that soars up to 3,000 meters above sea level, whose rapid melting is a leading contributor to global sea level rise. But surrounding this massive ice sheet, which covers 79% of the world's largest island, is Greenland's rugged coastline dotted with ice capped mountainous peaks. These peripheral glaciers and ice caps are now also undergoing severe melting due to anthropogenic (human-caused) warming. However, climate warming and the loss of these ice caps may not have always gone hand-in-hand.

Scientists solve mystery of icy plumes that may foretell deadly supercell storms

Thu, 09/09/2021 - 13:12
The most devastating tornadoes are often preceded by a cloudy plume of ice and water vapor billowing above a severe thunderstorm. New research reveals the mechanism for these plumes could be tied to 'hydraulic jumps' -- a phenomenon Leonardo Da Vinci observed more than 500 years ago.

Ancient sea ice core sheds light on modern climate change

Thu, 09/09/2021 - 11:42
A 170 m record of marine sediment cores extracted from Adélie Land in Antarctica is yielding new insights into the complicated relationship between sea ice and climate change.

Study reveals dramatic impact of climate change in the Sierra Nevada

Wed, 09/08/2021 - 17:06
The new study reveals just how dramatically climate change has impacted aquatic ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada. Scientists can use the data to anticipate changes coming in the near future, and how those changes might influence water availability.

‘MRI’ scan reveals spectacular ice age landscapes beneath the North Sea

Wed, 09/08/2021 - 17:05
Spectacular ice age landscapes beneath the North Sea have been discovered using 3D seismic reflection technology. Similar to MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) the images reveal in unprecedented detail huge seafloor channels - each one 10 times wider than the River Thames.

Nature’s archive reveals Atlantic tempests through time

Tue, 09/07/2021 - 15:05
Scientists uncover how natural archives recorded Atlantic hurricane frequency over the past 1,000 years. More data is needed to help model how climate change will affect storms in the future.

Global warming threatens the existence of an Arctic oasis

Fri, 09/03/2021 - 12:26
The most significant Arctic oasis is susceptible to climate change -- researchers say that global warming is threatening the region's ecosystem, and predict that the oasis will cease to exist.

Indian wolf among world’s most endangered and distinct wolves

Thu, 09/02/2021 - 16:46
The Indian wolf could be far more endangered than previously recognized, say first scientists to sequence its genome. Indian wolves could also represent the most ancient surviving lineage of wolves.

‘Tipping points’ in Earth’s system triggered rapid climate change 55 million years ago

Tue, 08/31/2021 - 12:14
Scientists have uncovered a fascinating new insight into what caused one of the most rapid and dramatic instances of climate change in the history of the Earth.

Bacterial bloom as the Earth thawed: Photosynthetic organisms during the Snowball Earth

Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:14
Around 650 million years ago, the Earth entered into the Marinoan glaciation that saw the entire planet freeze. The 'Snowball Earth' impeded the evolution of life. But as it warmed, biotic life began to flourish. A research team has now analyzed rock samples from China to tell us more about this transition.

Artificial intelligence to help predict Arctic sea ice loss

Thu, 08/26/2021 - 07:17
A new AI (artificial intelligence) tool is set to enable scientists to more accurately forecast Arctic sea ice conditions months into the future. The improved predictions could underpin new early-warning systems that protect Arctic wildlife and coastal communities from the impacts of sea ice loss.

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