Feed aggregator

Global warming may be twice what climate models predict

Science Daily - Thu, 07/05/2018 - 10:00
Future global warming may eventually be twice as warm as projected by climate models under business-as-usual scenarios and even if the world meets the 2°C target sea levels may rise six meters or more, according to an international team of researchers from 17 countries.

Oxygen loss in the coastal Baltic Sea is 'unprecedentedly severe'

Science Daily - Thu, 07/05/2018 - 07:42
The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world's largest dead zones, areas of oxygen-starved waters where most marine animals can't survive. But while parts of this sea have long suffered from low oxygen levels, a new study shows that oxygen loss in coastal areas over the past century is unprecedented in the last 1,500 years.

New study questions when the brown bear became extinct in Britain

Science Daily - Wed, 07/04/2018 - 10:20
New research provides insights into the extinction of Britain's largest native carnivore. The study is the first of its kind to collate and evaluate the evidence for the brown bear in post-Ice Age Britain.

Rising sea levels could cost the world $14 trillion a year by 2100

Science Daily - Tue, 07/03/2018 - 18:07
Failure to meet the United Nations' 2ºC warming limits will lead to sea level rise and dire global economic consequences, new research has warned. A study found flooding from rising sea levels could cost $14 trillion worldwide annually by 2100, if the target of holding global temperatures below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels is missed.

Marine mammals most at risk from increased Arctic ship traffic

Science Daily - Mon, 07/02/2018 - 12:38
The first comprehensive survey of Arctic marine mammal populations' vulnerability to shipping along two main routes finds which face the most risks from heavier traffic in the region.

Greenhouse gases were the main driver of climate change in the deep past

Science Daily - Mon, 07/02/2018 - 10:12
Greenhouse gases were the main driver of climate throughout the warmest period of the past 66 million years, providing insight into the drivers behind long-term climate change.

Climate change is making night-shining clouds more visible

Science Daily - Mon, 07/02/2018 - 10:11
Increased water vapor in Earth's atmosphere due to human activities is making shimmering high-altitude clouds more visible, a new study finds. The results suggest these strange but increasingly common clouds seen only on summer nights are an indicator of human-caused climate change, according to new research.

What caused the mass extinction of Earth's first animals?

Science Daily - Wed, 06/27/2018 - 15:05
Fossil records tell us that the first macroscopic animals appeared on Earth about 575 million years ago. Twenty-four million years later, the diversity of animals began to mysteriously decline, leading to Earth's first know mass extinction event. A research team is helping to unravel this mystery and understand why this extinction event happened, what it can tell us about our origins, and how the world as we know it came to be.

New study explains Antarctica's coldest temperatures

Science Daily - Mon, 06/25/2018 - 18:26
Tiny valleys near the top of Antarctica's ice sheet reach temperatures of nearly -100 degrees Celsius, according to a new study. The finding could change scientists' understanding of just how low temperatures can get at Earth's surface, and how it happens, according to the researchers.

Antarctic ice sheet is melting, but rising bedrock below could slow it down

Science Daily - Thu, 06/21/2018 - 13:11
An international team of researchers has found that the bedrock below the remote West Antarctic Ice Sheet is rising much more rapidly than previously thought, in response to ongoing ice melt.

Clovis site: Montana burial site answers questions about early humans

Science Daily - Tue, 06/19/2018 - 11:24
Scientists have shown that at the Anzick site in Montana - the only known Clovis burial site - the skeletal remains of a young child and the antler and stone artifacts found there were buried at the same time, raising new questions about the early inhabitants of North America.

New model for gauging ice sheet movement may improve sea-level-rise predictions

Science Daily - Tue, 06/19/2018 - 11:24
Researchers discovered friction -- or 'basal drag' -- between ice sheets and the hard bed underneath has no influence on how fast glaciers flow.

Land-based portion of massive East Antarctic ice sheet retreated little during past eight million years

Science Daily - Fri, 06/15/2018 - 14:44
Large parts of the massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet did not retreat significantly during a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were similar to today's levels.

Why the tongue of the Pine Island Glacier suddenly shrank

Science Daily - Fri, 06/15/2018 - 08:48
The Pine Island Glacier in Western Antarctica is not only one of the fastest-flowing ice streams in the Southern Hemisphere; over the past 11 years, four major icebergs have calved from its floating tongue.

Leading Antarctic experts offer two possible views of continent's future

Science Daily - Thu, 06/14/2018 - 20:38
The next 10 years will be critical for the future of Antarctica, and choices made will have long-lasting consequences, says an international group of Antarctic research scientists. It lays out two different plausible future scenarios for the continent and its Southern Ocean over the next 50 years.

What saved the West Antarctic Ice Sheet 10,000 years ago will not save it today

Science Daily - Thu, 06/14/2018 - 09:12
The retreat of the West Antarctic ice masses after the last Ice Age was reversed surprisingly about 10,000 years ago, scientists found. The reason for the rebound is that, relieved from the weight of the retreating ice, the Earth crust lifted. This made the ice re-advance towards the ocean. Unfortunately, this mechanism is much to slow to prevent dangerous sea-level rise caused by West Antarctica's ice-loss in the present and near future.

Ocean waves following sea ice loss trigger Antarctic ice shelf collapse

Science Daily - Thu, 06/14/2018 - 08:52
Storm-driven ocean swells have triggered the catastrophic disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves in recent decades, according to new research published in Nature today.

Decades of satellite monitoring reveal Antarctic ice loss

Science Daily - Wed, 06/13/2018 - 15:30
Scientists have reviewed decades of satellite measurements to reveal how and why Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and sea ice are changing. Their report explains how ice shelf thinning and collapse have triggered an increase in the continent's contribution to sea level rise.

Antarctica ramps up sea level rise

Science Daily - Wed, 06/13/2018 - 15:30
Ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths of this rise (3.0 mm) coming in the last five years alone. The findings are from a major climate assessment known as the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE). It is the most complete picture of Antarctic ice sheet change to date -- 84 scientists from 44 international organizations combined 24 satellite surveys to produce the assessment.

Climate change accelerating rise in sea levels

Science Daily - Wed, 06/13/2018 - 15:30
A new study has discovered that rising sea levels could be accelerated by vulnerable ice shelves in the Antarctic.

Pages

Subscribe to Explore the Ice Age Midwest aggregator