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Read science articles on the ice age, glaciation and climatology. Discover the connection between ice ages and global warming.
Updated: 6 min 52 sec ago

How cold was the ice age? Researchers now know

Wed, 08/26/2020 - 13:14
Scientists have nailed down the temperature of the last ice age -- the Last Glacial Maximum of 20,000 years ago - to about 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

Antarctic ice shelves vulnerable to sudden meltwater-driven fracturing, says study

Wed, 08/26/2020 - 13:14
A new study says that many of the ice shelves ringing Antarctica could be vulnerable to quick destruction if rising temperatures drive melt water into the numerous fractures that currently penetrate their surfaces. The shelves help slow interior glaciers' slide toward the ocean, so if they were to fail, sea levels around the world could surge rapidly as a result.

New study warns: We have underestimated the pace at which the Arctic is melting

Wed, 08/26/2020 - 09:40
Arctic sea ice is melting more quickly than once assumed. Today's climate models have yet to incorporate the steep rise in temperatures that have occurred over the past 40 years.

Atmospheric scientists study fires to resolve ice question in climate models

Wed, 08/26/2020 - 09:16
Black carbon from fires is an important short-term climate driver because it can affect the formation and composition of clouds. Scientists are figuring out how.

Fossil pollen record suggests vulnerability to mass extinction ahead

Mon, 08/24/2020 - 08:20
Reduced resilience of plant biomes in North America could be setting the stage for the kind of mass extinctions not seen since the retreat of glaciers and arrival of humans about 13,000 years ago, cautions a new study.

East Antarctic melting hotspot identified

Mon, 08/24/2020 - 08:20
Ice is melting at a surprisingly fast rate underneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica due to the continuing influx of warm seawater into the Lützow-Holm Bay.

Arctic ocean moorings shed light on winter sea ice loss

Fri, 08/21/2020 - 14:57
The eastern Arctic Ocean's winter ice grew less than half as much as normal during the past decade, due to the growing influence of heat from the ocean's interior, researchers have found.

The age of Earth's inner core revised

Fri, 08/21/2020 - 14:57
By creating conditions akin to the center of Earth inside a laboratory chamber, researchers have improved the estimate of the age of our planet's solid inner core, putting it at 1 billion to 1.3 billion years old.

Anthropogenic CO2 increase is unprecedented

Thu, 08/20/2020 - 14:13
Even in earlier warm periods there were pulse-like releases of CO2 to the atmosphere. Today's anthropogenic CO2 rise, however, is more than six times larger and almost ten times faster than previous jumps in the CO2 concentration.

Past rapid warming levels in the Arctic associated with widespread climate changes

Thu, 08/20/2020 - 13:38
Using Greenland ice cores, new research is the first to confirm the longstanding assumption that climate changes between the tropics and the Arctic were synchronized during the last glacial period.

Greenland ice sheet shows losses in 2019

Thu, 08/20/2020 - 13:38
The Greenland Ice Sheet recorded a new record loss of mass in 2019. This was the finding of a team of international researchers after evaluating data from satellite observations and modelling data.

Larger variability in sea level expected as Earth warms

Thu, 08/20/2020 - 10:28
Researchers have identified a global tendency for future sea levels to become more variable as oceans warm this century due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Global warming is changing our plant communities

Mon, 08/17/2020 - 11:49
In a comprehensive study of nearly 20,000 species, research shows that plant communities are shifting to include more heat-loving species as a result of climate change.

New research reveals effect of global warming on Greenland ice melt

Mon, 08/17/2020 - 11:30
New analysis of almost 30 years' worth of scientific data on the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet predicts global sea level rise of at least 10 centimeters by the end of the 21st Century if global warming trends continue.

Reconstructing global climate through Earth's history

Thu, 08/13/2020 - 14:22
Accurate temperature estimates of ancient oceans are vital because they are the best tool for reconstructing global climate conditions in the past. While climate models provide scenarios of what the world could look like in the future, paleoclimate studies (study of past climates) provide insight into what the world did look like in the past.

Warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return

Thu, 08/13/2020 - 11:35
Nearly 40 years of satellite data from Greenland shows that glaciers on the island have shrunk so much that even if global warming were to stop today, the ice sheet would continue shrinking.

Ancient genomes suggest woolly rhinos went extinct due to climate change, not overhunting

Thu, 08/13/2020 - 10:31
Although overhunting led to the demise of some prehistoric megafauna after the last ice age, a new study found that the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros may have been caused by climate change. By sequencing ancient DNA from 14 woolly rhinos, researchers found that their population remained stable and diverse until only a few thousand years before it disappeared from Siberia, when temperatures likely rose too high.

Forest growth in drier climates will be impacted by reduced snowpack

Mon, 08/10/2020 - 13:09
A new study suggests that future reductions in seasonal snowpack as a result of climate change may negatively influence forest growth in semi-arid climates, but less so in wetter climates.

Past evidence supports complete loss of Arctic sea-ice by 2035

Mon, 08/10/2020 - 10:32
A new study supports predictions that the Arctic could be free of sea ice by 2035.

New Zealand's Southern Alps glacier melt has doubled

Fri, 08/07/2020 - 08:37
Glaciers in the Southern Alps of New Zealand have lost more ice mass since pre-industrial times than remains today, according to a new study. The study mapped Southern Alps ice loss from the end of the Little Ice Age -- roughly 400 years ago -- to 2019. It found that relative to recent decades, the Southern Alps lost up to 77% of their total Little Ice Age glacier volume.

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