Science Daily

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the dominant atmospheric pressure mode over the North Atlantic that plays a significant role in determining the winter climate in Europe. Depending on the prevailing state of the NAO, Europe experiences mild or very cold winters and even strong storms. Geoscientists are currently reconstructing the fluctuations of the NAO over the last 10,000 years with the aim of being able to predict future developments. For this purpose, they use stalagmites obtained from subterranean caves as natural climate archives and are examining new indicators of climate change to retrieve climate information that is as accurate as possible. Initial results indicate that it is likely that the NAO will respond to the melting of the Arctic ice cap in the future, with consequences for our climate, environment, and society as a whole.

The people in Switzerland were on the move in the High Alps and running alpine pastures 7,000 years ago and therefore much earlier than previously assumed. A study that combines archaeological knowledge with findings from palaeoecology comes to this conclusion. Prehistoric finds from the Schnidejoch Pass played a crucial part in this.

The eastern Arctic Ocean is becoming more like the Atlantic Ocean, a new study combining remote sensing and local data finds.

Researchers surveyed sediment samples from the northern Tibetan Plateau's Qaidam Basin and constructed paleoclimate cycle records from the late Miocene epoch of Earth's history, which lasted from approximately 11 to 5.3 million years ago. Reconstructing past climate records can help scientists determine both natural patterns and the ways in which future glacial events and greenhouse gas emissions may affect global systems.

New DNA research shows true migration route of early farming in Europe 8,000 years ago, correcting previous theories.

Researchers have gained important insights into the structure of snowflakes using a pioneering new approach and a special multi-angle camera.

Plants are currently removing more carbon dioxide from the air than they did 200 years ago, according to new work. This team's findings affirm estimates used in models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Over the next 100 to 200 years, carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere will head towards values not seen since the Triassic period, 200 million years ago. Furthermore, by the 23rd century, the climate could reach a warmth not seen in 420 million years, say researchers.

The whole concept of the 'Little Ice Age' is 'misleading,' as the changes were small-scale, seasonal and insignificant compared with present-day global warming, a group of solar and climate scientists argue.

Glaciers and ice sheets have recently been considered significant sources of organic carbon and provide nutrients to downstream marine ecosystems.

Ecosystems created by melting glaciers in the Arctic are sensitive to climate change and human activity, new research indicates.

A change in precipitation at one location may be caused by changes on the other side of the planet. An international team with the participation of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences now investigated Japanese lake sediments to decipher the interplay between local climate changes on the northern hemisphere about 12,000 years ago. Their results show that a regional warming in Europe caused a cooling and an increase in snowfall in East Asia.

The glaciers and ice caps that dot the edges of the Greenland coast are not likely to recover from the melting they are experiencing now, a study has found.

Every year an increasing amount of sea ice is melting in the Arctic. This can start a chain reaction, which leads to increased production of algae and hence more food for creatures in the sea.

In 2011, researchers observed something that should be impossible — a massive bloom of phytoplankton growing under Arctic sea ice in conditions that should have been far too dark for anything requiring photosynthesis to survive. So, how was this bloom possible? Using mathematical modeling, researchers found that thinning Arctic sea ice may be responsible for these blooms and more blooms in the future, potentially causing significant disruption in the Arctic food chain.

Norwegian Sea acted as carbon dioxide source in the past. It pumped the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere instead of absorbing it, as it does today, report scientists.

The Arctic sea ice maximum extent and Antarctic minimum extent are both record lows this year. Combined, sea ice numbers are at their lowest point since satellites began to continuously measure sea ice in 1979.

Nearly 1,000 feet below the bed of the Dead Sea, scientists have found evidence that during past warm periods, the Mideast has suffered drought on scales never recorded by humans -- a possible warning for current times. Thick layers of crystalline salt show that rainfall plummeted to as little as a fifth of modern levels some 120,000 years ago, and again about 10,000 years ago.

The last piece of the ice sheet that once blanketed much of North America is doomed to disappear in the next several centuries, says a new study.

The sub-antarctic island of South Georgia -- famous for its wildlife -- was covered by a massive ice cap during the last ice age, new research indicates.