Science Daily


Read science articles on the ice age, glaciation and climatology. Discover the connection between ice ages and global warming.
Updated: 1 hour 21 min ago
Researchers home in on Thera volcano eruption date
Tree-ring, ice core and volcano experts teamed up to identify one of the most climatically impactful volcanic eruptions in 4,000 years -- Aniakchak II. In the process, they narrowed down potential dates for the Thera volcano eruption.
Study supports stronger conservation efforts Appalachians and the Gulf Coast, US
Study of Campanula americana supports strengthening conservation efforts in glacial refugia areas because of their high genetic diversity. Conservation of those areas in the southern Appalachians and the Gulf Coast has implications for other areas of the country.
Model pinpoints glaciers at risk of collapse due to climate change
Glaciologists focus on what happens at the front of glaciers that terminate in the ocean as the key to whether a glacier will speed up or slow down. Yet with global warming, meltwater is becoming increasingly important, seeping underneath and lubricating flow. A statistician included this effect in glacier flow models, concluding that the thickest and fastest moving glaciers will respond most rapidly to basal lubrication and are most vulnerable to sudden collapse.
Earth's atmosphere may be source of some lunar water
Hydrogen and oxygen ions escaping from Earth's upper atmosphere and combining on the moon could be one of the sources of the known lunar water and ice, according to new research.
Before Stonehenge monuments, hunter-gatherers made use of open habitats
Hunter-gatherers made use of open woodland conditions in the millennia before Stonehenge monuments were built, according to a new study.
News from the climate history of the Dead Sea
The lake level of the Dead Sea is currently dropping by more than one meter every year -- mainly because of the heavy water consumption in the catchment area. However, very strong lake level drops due to climate changes are also known from earlier times. At the end of the last ice age, for example, the water level dropped by almost 250 meters within a few millennia.
Deepest sediment core collected in the Atlantic Ocean
A team of scientists, engineers, and ship's crew on the research vessel Neil Armstrong operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently collected a 38-foot-long cylindrical sediment sample from the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, nearly 5 miles below the surface.
Melting land-based ice raises sea levels globally but can produce lowered levels locally
When a large ice sheet begins to melt, global-mean sea level rises, but local sea level near the ice sheet may in fact drop. A researcher illustrates this effect through a series of calculations, beginning with a simple, analytically tractable model and progressing through more sophisticated mathematical estimations of ice distributions and gravitation of displaced seawater mass. The paper includes numerical results for sea level change resulting from a 1,000-gigatonne loss of ice, with parameter values appropriate to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
Study challenges theories of earlier human arrival in Americas
The new analysis suggests that misinterpretation of archaeological evidence at certain sites in North and South America might be responsible for theories that humans arrived long before 13,000-14,200 years ago.
Explanation for formation of abundant features on Europa bodes well for search for extraterrestrial life
Ice-penetrating radar data from Greenland suggests that shallow water pockets may be common within Europa's ice shell, increasing the potential habitability of the Jovian moon's ice shell.
No glacial fertilization effect in the Antarctic Ocean
Can iron-rich dust fertilize the ocean, stimulate algae growth there, and thereby capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? An international research team used deep-sea sediment cores from the Scotia Sea to investigate whether this hypothetical greenhouse gas sink had an effect during ice ages. Although dust input was high during ice ages, no evidence of a fertilization effect could be found in the Antarctic Ocean. Rather, the production of algae, for example, and thus carbon dioxide sequestration, was high only during warm periods when dust input was low.
Changes in vegetation shaped global temperatures over last 10,000 years
Follow the pollen. Records from past plant life tell the real story of global temperatures. Warmer temperatures brought plants -- and then came even warmer temperatures, according to new model simulations.
Ice shards in Antarctic clouds let more solar energy reach Earth’s surface
Clouds come in myriad shapes, sizes and types, which control their effects on climate. New research shows that splintering of frozen liquid droplets to form ice shards inside Southern Ocean clouds dramatically affects the clouds’ ability to reflect sunlight back to space.
Early human habitats linked to past climate shifts
A study provides clear evidence for a link between astronomically-driven climate change and human evolution.
Climate change affects landscape freeze-thaw but not in the same way everywhere
Researchers have use new statistical framework and analysis of datasets to demonstrate how increasing air temperatures and decreasing snow cover work in tandem to increase the effects of climate change in a non-linear fashion, meaning that they work to amplify the overall impact felt on the ground.
Climatic variability might not drive evolutionary change as much as previously thought
A new study combining records of climate change during the last 3.5 million years with fossil evidence of mammals in Africa reveals that times of erratic climate change are not followed by major upheavals in evolution.
Melting ice caps may not shut down ocean current
Most simulations of our climate's future may be overly sensitive to Arctic ice melt as a cause of abrupt changes in ocean circulation, according to new research.
New link between greenhouse gasses and sea level rise
Researchers have used advanced ocean modelling techniques to reveal how greenhouse gas emissions contribute to warmer oceans and resulting melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Simulations explain Greenland’s slower summer warming
Climate changes in the tropical Pacific have temporarily put the brakes on rapid warming and ice melting in Greenland.
The global 'plastic flood' reaches the Arctic
Even the High North can't escape the global threat of plastic pollution. An international review study shows, the flood of plastic has reached all spheres of the Arctic: large quantities of plastic - transported by rivers, the air and shipping- can now be found in the Arctic Ocean.