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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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Earth's atmosphere more chemically reactive in cold climates

Wed, 05/17/2017 - 12:26
A Greenland ice core providing a first glimpse at the history of reactive oxidants shows that for big temperature swings in the past 100,000 years, reactive oxidants are actually higher in cold climates. This means that new mechanisms -- not just water vapor, plant and soil emissions -- must affect the concentration of ozone and other oxidants in the atmosphere.

Porewater salinity: Key to reconstructing 250,000 years of Lake Van’s history

Tue, 05/16/2017 - 08:11
The sediments of Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia (Turkey) are a valuable climate archive. Now, using the salinity measured in sediment porewater, scientists have reconstructed the huge lake-level fluctuations that occurred over the past 250,000 years. This approach – based on simple physical concepts – is likely to be more widely applied in the future.

NASA's EPIC view spots flashes on Earth

Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:30
One million miles from Earth, a NASA camera is capturing unexpected flashes of light reflecting off our planet.

Saying goodbye to glaciers

Thu, 05/11/2017 - 13:19
Glaciers around the world are disappearing before our eyes, and the implications for people are wide-ranging and troubling, a glacier expert concludes in a new study.

Teleconnection between the tropical Pacific and Antarctica

Thu, 05/11/2017 - 08:50
The higher the seawater temperature in the tropical Pacific, the more likely ice breakup will occur in East Antarctica, according to researchers.

Irreversible ocean warming threatens the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf

Thu, 05/11/2017 - 08:50
By the second half of this century, rising air temperatures above the Weddell Sea could set off a self-amplifying meltwater feedback cycle under the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, ultimately causing the second-largest ice shelf in the Antarctic to shrink dramatically.

Shelf sediments reveal climate shifts through the eons

Wed, 05/10/2017 - 16:49
Climate change around Antarctica can severely affect Australia's rainfall and even influence the distribution of wet and dry zones across southeast Asia, an international study has revealed.

Glaciers rapidly shrinking and disappearing: 50 years of glacier change in Montana

Wed, 05/10/2017 - 12:19
The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since 1966, some by as much as 85 percent. On average, the glaciers have reduced by 39 percent and only 26 glaciers are now larger than 25 acres, which is used as a guideline for deciding if bodies of ice are large enough to be considered glaciers.

How do snowflakes form? Chemist sees ice crystal formation in new light

Wed, 05/10/2017 - 12:19
New research by chemist has shed new light on ice crystal formation by combining an electron backscatter with a large single crystal ice model. Scientists discovered that an ice crystal's flat sides are formed by a hexagon that is larger and consists of a central water molecule surrounded by six others in the same layer.

African lions under same threats as extinct sabre-toothed tigers faced

Wed, 05/10/2017 - 10:52
African lions are under the same threats extinct sabre-toothed tigers faced.

Rising temperatures threaten stability of Tibetan alpine grasslands

Wed, 05/10/2017 - 06:55
A warming climate could affect the stability of alpine grasslands in Asia's Tibetan Plateau, threatening the ability of farmers and herders to maintain the animals that are key to their existence, and potentially upsetting the ecology of an area in which important regional river systems originate, says a new study.

Oversized landforms discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet

Tue, 05/09/2017 - 08:35
Scientists have now discovered an active hydrological system of water conduits and sediment ridges below the Antarctic ice sheet.

Different places warm at different paces

Tue, 05/09/2017 - 07:39
One of the robust features of global warming under increasing greenhouse gas concentrations is that different places warm at different paces. It turns out that the fast warming in each region has its own cause. Ocean heat transport links subpolar and Arctic warming, but that is not the whole story.

Growth of East Antarctic Ice Sheet was less than previously suggested

Fri, 05/05/2017 - 09:36
Scientists have known for over a decade that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass and contributing to sea level rise.

Antarctic study shows central ice sheet is stable since milder times

Fri, 05/05/2017 - 09:36
Central parts of Antarctica's ice sheet have been stable for millions of years, from a time when conditions were considerably warmer than now, research suggests.

Policies to curb short-lived climate pollutants could yield major health benefits

Thu, 05/04/2017 - 15:14
A commitment to reducing global emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane and black carbon could slow global warming while boosting public health and agricultural yields, aligning the Paris Climate Agreement with global sustainable development goals, a new analysis by an international panel of scientists shows.

Decades of data on world's oceans reveal a troubling oxygen decline

Thu, 05/04/2017 - 09:43
The amount of dissolved oxygen contained in the water -- an important measure of ocean health -- has been declining for more than 20 years, reveals a new analysis of decades of data on oceans across the globe.

Earth sank twice, flooding the Eastern Amazon

Wed, 05/03/2017 - 14:20
A tiny shark tooth, part of a mantis shrimp and other microscopic marine organisms reveal that as the Andes mountains rose, the Eastern Amazon sank twice, each time for less than a million years.

Spotted skunk evolution driven by climate change, suggest researchers

Wed, 05/03/2017 - 12:19
Climate plays a key role in determining what animals can live where. And while human-induced climate change has been causing major problems for wildlife as of late, changes in the Earth's climate have impacted evolution for millions of years -- offering tantalizing clues into how to protect animals facing climate change today. In a new paper, scientists have delved into the effects of Ice Age climate change upon the evolution of tiny, hand-standing skunks.

Climate instability over the past 720,000 years

Tue, 05/02/2017 - 08:51
A new analysis of an ice core from Dome Fuji in Antarctica, along with climate simulation results, shows a high degree of climate instability (that is, rapid climate fluctuations) within glacial periods with intermediate temperatures. This instability was attributed primarily to global cooling caused by a reduced greenhouse effect.

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