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Read science articles on the ice age, glaciation and climatology. Discover the connection between ice ages and global warming.
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Study shows ancient Alaskans were freshwater fishers

Fri, 06/16/2023 - 15:19
A scientific team has discovered the earliest-known evidence of freshwater fishing by ancient people in the Americas. The research offers a glimpse at how early humans used a changing landscape and could offer insight for modern people facing similar changes.

We've pumped so much groundwater that we've nudged Earth's spin

Thu, 06/15/2023 - 17:31
By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a new study.

Climate change likely led to violence in early Andean populations

Thu, 06/15/2023 - 17:31
Climate change in current times has created problems for humans such as wildfires and reduced growing seasons for staple crops, spilling over into economic effects. Many researchers predict, and have observed in published literature, an increase in interpersonal violence and homicides when temperatures increase. Violence during climatic change has evidence in history, anthropology researchers say.

10-year countdown to sea-ice-free Arctic

Thu, 06/15/2023 - 09:53
Research team predicts Arctic without ice by the end of 2030s if current increasing rate of greenhouse gas emission continues.

The life below our feet: Team discovers microbes thriving in groundwater and producing oxygen in the dark

Wed, 06/14/2023 - 21:06
A survey of groundwater samples drawn from aquifers beneath more than 80,000 square miles of Canadian prairie reveals ancient groundwaters harbor not only diverse and active microbial communities, but also unexpectedly large numbers of microbial cells. Strikingly, some of these microbes seem to produce 'dark oxygen' (in the absence of sunlight) in such abundance that the oxygen may nourish not only those microbes, but may leak into the environment and support other oxygen-reliant microbes that can't produce it themselves.

Ancient herbivore's diet weakened teeth leading to eventual starvation, study suggests

Fri, 06/09/2023 - 11:57
Researchers have shed light on the life of the ancient reptile Rhynchosaur, which walked the earth between 250-225 million years ago, before being replaced by the dinosaurs.

South Africa, India and Australia shared similar volcanic activity 3.5 billion years ago

Thu, 06/08/2023 - 11:09
The Daitari greenstone belt shares a similar geologic make-up when compared to the greenstones exposed in the Barberton and Nondweni areas of South Africa and those from the Pilbara Craton of north-western Australia.

Thermal energy stored by land masses has increased significantly

Wed, 05/31/2023 - 14:01
There are many effects of climate change. Perhaps the most broadly known is global warming, which is caused by heat building up in various parts of the Earth system, such as the atmosphere, the ocean, the cryosphere and the land. 89 percent of this excess heat is stored in the oceans, with the rest in ice and glaciers, the atmosphere and land masses (including inland water bodies). An international research team has now studied the quantity of heat stored on land, showing the distribution of land heat among the continental ground, permafrost soils, and inland water bodies. The calculations show that more than 20 times as much heat has been stored there since the 1960s, with the largest increase being in the ground.

Ground beneath Thwaites Glacier mapped

Wed, 05/31/2023 - 13:51
The ground beneath Antarctica's most vulnerable glacier has now been mapped, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected -- a finding that could affect how the ice slides and melts in the coming decades.

New method predicts extreme events more accurately

Wed, 05/24/2023 - 17:19
A new study has used global storm-resolving simulations and machine learning to create an algorithm that can deal separately with two different scales of cloud organization: those resolved by a climate model, and those that cannot be resolved as they are too small. This new approach addresses the missing piece of information in traditional climate model parameterizations and provides a way to predict precipitation intensity and variability more precisely.

Montreal protocol is delaying first ice-free Arctic summer

Mon, 05/22/2023 - 15:16
New research shows that the 1987 global treaty, designed to protect the ozone layer, has postponed the occurrence of the first ice-free Arctic by as much as 15 years.

Ancient climate change solves mystery of vanished South African lakes

Fri, 05/19/2023 - 09:45
New evidence for the presence of ancient lakes in some of the most arid regions of South Africa suggests that Stone Age humans may have been more widespread across the continent than previously thought.

Past climate change to blame for Antarctica's giant underwater landslides

Thu, 05/18/2023 - 11:08
Scientists found weak, biologically-rich layers of sediments hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor which crumbled as oceans warmed and ice sheets declined. The landslides were discovered in the eastern Ross Sea in 2017, by an international team of scientists during the Italian ODYSSEA expedition, and scientists revisited the area in 2018 as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 where they collected sediment cores to understand what caused them.

About 13,000 years ago, the water outflow from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean was twice that of today’s

Tue, 05/16/2023 - 10:55
About 13,000 years ago, a climate crisis caused a global drop in temperatures in the northern hemisphere. This episode of intense cold, known as the Younger Dryas, also caused severe aridity across the Mediterranean basin, which had a major impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. But what do we know about the impact of this climate change on water circulation in the Mediterranean?

'Warm Ice Age' changed climate cycles

Tue, 05/16/2023 - 10:55
Approximately 700,000 years ago, a 'warm ice age' permanently changed the climate cycles on Earth. During this exceptionally warm and moist period, the polar glaciers greatly expanded. A research team identified this seemingly paradoxical connection. The shift in the Earth's climate represents a critical step in our planet's later climate development.

South Africa's desert-like interior may have been more inviting to our human ancestors

Tue, 05/16/2023 - 10:55
Lining the Cape of South Africa and its southern coast are long chains of caves that nearly 200,000 years ago were surrounded by a lush landscape and plentiful food.

Out of this world control on Ice Age cycles

Mon, 05/15/2023 - 12:20
A research team, composed of climatologists and an astronomer, have used an improved computer model to reproduce the cycle of ice ages (glacial periods) 1.6 to 1.2 million years ago. The results show that the glacial cycle was driven primarily by astronomical forces in quite a different way than it works in the modern age. These results will help us to better understand the past, present, and future of ice sheets and the Earth's climate.

Great Bas­in: His­tory of water sup­ply in one of the dri­est regions in the USA

Thu, 05/11/2023 - 15:46
An international team has reconstructed the evolution of groundwater in the Great Basin, USA -- one of the driest regions on Earth -- up to 350,000 years into the past with unprecedented accuracy. The results shed new light on the effects of climate change on water supply and provide important insights for the sustainable use of groundwater resources.

Human ancestors preferred mosaic landscapes and high ecosystem diversity

Thu, 05/11/2023 - 15:44
A new study finds that early human species adapted to mosaic landscapes and diverse food resources, which would have increased our ancestor's resilience to past shifts in climate.

Dark clouds on the horizon

Wed, 05/10/2023 - 11:06
Our industrialized society releases many and various pollutants into the world. Combustion in particular produces aerosol mass including black carbon. Although this only accounts for a few percent of aerosol particles, black carbon is especially problematic due to its ability to absorb heat and impede the heat reflection capabilities of surfaces such as snow. So, it's essential to know how black carbon interacts with sunlight. Researchers have quantified the refractive index of black carbon to the most accurate degree yet which might impact climate models.

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