Science Daily

Earth's steady state is warm and balmy, but half a dozen times over the past billion years, the planet developed ice caps and glaciers. Researchers have now amassed evidence that these cold snaps occurred when tectonic activity propelled continents headlong into volcanic island arcs in the tropics, uplifting ophiolites that rapidly absorbed carbon dioxide, cooling Earth. Once collisions stopped, CO2 again built up from volcanic eruptions and a runaway greenhouse effect warmed the planet.

New research shows that the Larsen C ice shelf -- the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica -- experienced an unusual spike in late summer and early autumn surface melting in the years 2015 to 2017. The study, spanning 35 years from 1982 to 2017, quantifies how much of this additional melting is due to warm, dry air currents called foehn winds that originate high in the peninsula's central mountain range.

Evidence of historic marine life present in Alaskan permafrost is helping scientists reconstruct ancient changes in the ice cover over the Arctic Ocean.

A study uses new research techniques to reveal alarming information about climate change in Canada's north. A study confirms that recent climate warming in the central Yukon region has surpassed the warmest temperatures experienced in the previous 13,600 years, a finding that could have important implications in the context of current global warming trends.

Scientists want to drill a 1.5 million year old ice core in Antarctica. An analysis of the climate data stored in the ice should contribute to a better understanding of the alternation between warm and cold periods.

Natural history museum paleontologists have succeeded in mapping historical biodiversity in unprecedented detail. For the first time, it is now possible to compare the impact of climate on global biodiversity in the distant past -- a result that paints a gloomy picture for the preservation of present-day species richness.

New research on how glaciers in the European Alps will fare under a warming climate has come up with concerning results. Under a limited warming scenario, glaciers would lose about two-thirds of their present-day ice volume, while under strong warming, the Alps would be mostly ice free by 2100.

A million years ago, a longtime pattern of alternating glaciations and warm periods dramatically changed, when ice ages suddenly became longer and more intense. Scientists have long suspected that this was connected to the slowdown of a key Atlantic Ocean current system that today once again is slowing. A new study of sediments from the Atlantic bottom directly links this slowdown with a massive buildup of carbon dragged from the air into the abyss.

Melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic as well as ice melt from glaciers all over the world are causing sea levels to rise. Glaciers alone lost more than 9,000 billion tons of ice since 1961, raising water levels by 27 millimeters, an international research team has now found.

A new paper shows that air temperature is the 'smoking gun' behind climate change in the Arctic.

Glaciology experts have issued evidence that a large section of the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, which is home to the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station, is about break off. The iceberg, measuring over 1,500 square kilometers -- which is twice the size of New York City -- is expected to break away from the Brunt Ice Shelf within the next few months.

Common magnesium chloride deicers used on roadways and bridges around the U.S. may be doing more damage than previously thought, researchers have found.

CO2 levels in the atmosphere are likely higher today than ever before in the past 3 million years. During this time, global mean temperatures never exceeded the preindustrial levels by more than 2°C. The study is based on breakthrough computer simulations of ice age onset in Earth's past climate.

Glaciers extending into freshwater lakes can form long, submerged terraces that menacingly rise above the surface when icy chunks fall into the water.

The dramatic loss of ice in the Arctic is influencing sea-ice transport across the Arctic Ocean. Today only 20 percent of the sea ice that forms in the shallow Russian marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean actually reaches the Central Arctic, where it joins the Transpolar Drift; the remaining 80 percent of the young ice melts before it has a chance to leave its 'nursery.'

Researchers provide first conclusive evidence linking widespread ocean oxygen loss and rising sea levels to a 430-million-year-old mass extinction event.

According to new research, changes similar to those after the ice age 10,000 years ago could be in store today because a warming Arctic weakens the temperature difference between the tropics and the poles. This, in turn, results in less precipitation, weaker cyclones and weaker mid-latitude westerly wind flow -- a recipe for prolonged drought.

In a first-ever study of two of the largest deep earthquakes ever recorded in human history, researchers reveal new and surprising information about our planet's mysterious, ever-changing interior.

NASA research shows that Jakobshavn Glacier, which has been Greenland's fastest-flowing and fastest-thinning glacier for the last 20 years, has made an unexpected about-face. The glacier is still adding to global sea level rise, but at a slower rate.

Scientists have generated significant findings that highlight the impact of high-latitude dusts on the conversion of clouds' water droplets to ice -- or glaciation -- within low-level clouds in the Arctic region. These results contribute to a better understanding of factors at the land surface and how they affect cloud formations.