Science Daily


Read science articles on the ice age, glaciation and climatology. Discover the connection between ice ages and global warming.
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Bee populations expanded during global warming after the last Ice Age
Population sizes of the Australian carpenter bee have increased dramatically during the global warming following the last Ice Age. This matches previous studies on bees in North America and Fiji, showing that bees from diverse habitats respond strongly to climate change.
Deep, old water explains why Antarctic Ocean hasn't warmed
The water around Antarctica has not seen the atmosphere for centuries, since long before the machine age. New observations and model simulations suggest this may be the last place on Earth to feel climate change.
Arctic Ocean methane does not reach the atmosphere
250 methane flares release the climate gas methane from the seabed and into the Arctic Ocean. During the summer months this leads to an increased methane concentration in the ocean. But surprisingly, very little of the climate gas rising up through the sea reaches the atmosphere, report investigators.
Evidence of ice age at Martian north pole
Using radar data scientists found evidence of an ice age recorded in the polar deposits of Mars. Ice ages on Mars are driven by processes similar to those responsible for ice ages on Earth, that is, long-term cyclical changes in the planet's orbit and tilt, which affect the amount of solar radiation it receives at each latitude.
Wildfire: It's not spreading like wildfire
A new analysis of global data related to wildfire reveals major misconceptions about wildfire and its social and economic impacts. Researchers carried out detailed analysis of global and regional data on fire occurrence, severity and its impacts on society. They found that global area burned has seen an overall slight decline over past decades, despite some notable regional increases.
A history of snowfall on Greenland, hidden in ancient leaf waxes
The history of Greenland's snowfall is chronicled in an unlikely place: the remains of aquatic plants that died long ago, collecting at the bottom of lakes in horizontal layers that document the passing years. Using this ancient record, scientists have determined that snowfall at one key location in western Greenland may have intensified from 6,000 to 4,000 years ago, a period when the planet's Northern Hemisphere was warmer than it is today.
A fiery world aids the peopling of America
North America experienced regular fires for thousands of years before the arrival of humans in North America according to new research.
As European glaciers dwindle, dams could replace them
Water management in reservoirs could substantially mitigate future summer water shortages, expected as a consequence of ongoing glacier retreat, researchers report. The team simulated the effect of climatic change on glaciers across the European Alps and estimated that two thirds of the effect on seasonal water availability could be avoided when storing water in areas becoming ice free.
Will more snow over Antarctica offset rising seas? Don't count on it
Heavier snow over Antarctica was supposed to be one of the few brakes on sea-level rise in a warming world. But that prediction is not reliable, says a new study of Antarctic snowfall over the past 31,000 years.
Scientists getting warmer on mimicking anti-freeze in nature
Researchers have taken an important step forward in mimicking nature's prowess at protecting cells from deep-freeze conditions.
Scientists predict extensive ice loss from huge Antarctic glacier
Current rates of climate change could trigger instability in a major Antarctic glacier, ultimately leading to more than 2m of sea-level rise.
New data on variability of Earth's reflectance over the last 16 years
The Earth's albedo is a fundamental atmospheric parameter having deep implications for temperature and climate change. Experiments have been performed to monitor it over the past two decades to reveal how it evolves. One of these has brought up to date the observations made since 2007 and gives a new systematic record of the Earth's albedo covering the period between 1998-2014.
Curtailing global warming with bioengineering? Iron fertilization won't work in much of Pacific
Over the past half-million years, the equatorial Pacific Ocean has seen five spikes in the amount of iron-laden dust blown in from the continents. In theory, those bursts should have turbo-charged the growth of the ocean's carbon-capturing algae -- algae need iron to grow -- but a new study shows that the excess iron had little to no effect.
New Ice Age knowledge
An international team of researchers has gained new insights into the carbon dioxide exchange between ocean and atmosphere, thus making a significant contribution to solving one of the great scientific mysteries of the ice ages.
Retreat of the ice followed by millennia of methane release
Methane was seeping from the seafloor for thousands of years following the retreat of the Barents Sea ice sheet, shows a groundbreaking new study.
Climate change may have contributed to extinction of Neanderthals
Neanderthals in Europe showed signs of nutritional stress during periods of extreme cold, suggesting climate change may have contributed to their demise around 40,000 years ago.
Humans were in Southern Arabia 10,000 years earlier than first thought
The last Ice Age made much of the globe uninhabitable, but there were oases -- or refugia -- where people 20,000 years ago were able to cluster and survive. Researchers who specialize in the analysis of human DNA have found new evidence that there was one or more of these shelters in what is now Southern Arabia.
Wildfires to increase in Alaska with future climate change
Climate change is melting glaciers, reducing sea-ice cover and increasing wildlife activity -- with some of the most dramatic impacts occurring in the northern high latitudes. New research projects an increased probability of fires occurring in Alaskan boreal forest and tundra under a warmer, drier climate.
Sleuths search the seas for soot
Earth system scientists have taken water samples from the north Pacific, north and south Atlantic, and Arctic oceans in search of repositories of black carbon, soot from burning biomass and diesel engines, among other sources. They’ve found considerably less of the material than expected, and they’ve discovered that it exists in at least two varieties, a younger pool closer to the ocean’s surface that is absorbed into the environment in a roughly 100-year cycle and an ancient reserve that remains stable for millennia.
Daily up and down of the plankton animals in the sea
A unique series of measurements taken over several years in the Antarctic Ocean provide new findings about the daily vertical migration of zooplankton communities: scientists of the observed changes during the year and between years.