Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CLIMATE SCIENCE
800,000 years of abrupt climate variability
by Staff Writers
Cardiff UK (SPX) Sep 12, 2011


The research published in the journal Science demonstrates that abrupt climate change has been a systemic feature of Earth's climate for hundreds of thousands of years and may play an active role in longer term climate variability through its influence on ice age terminations.

An international team of scientists, led by Dr Stephen Barker of Cardiff University, has produced a prediction of what climate records from Greenland might look like over the last 800,000 years.

Drill cores taken from Greenland's vast ice sheets provided the first clue that Earth's climate is capable of very rapid transitions and have led to vigorous scientific investigation into the possible causes of abrupt climate change.

Such evidence comes from the accumulation of layers of ancient snow, which compact to form the ice-sheets we see today. Each layer of ice can reveal past temperatures and even evidence for the timing and magnitude of distant storms or volcanic eruptions. By drilling cores in the ice scientists have reconstructed an incredible record of past climates. Until now such temperature records from Greenland have covered only the last 100,000 years or so.

The team's reconstruction is based on the much longer ice core temperature record retrieved from Antarctica and uses a mathematical formulation to extend the Greenland record beyond its current limit.

Dr Barker, Cardiff School of Earth and Ocean Sciences said: "Our approach is based on an earlier suggestion that the record of Antarctic temperature variability could be derived from the Greenland record.

"However, we turned this idea on its head to derive a much longer record for Greenland using the available records from Antarctica."

The research published in the journal Science demonstrates that abrupt climate change has been a systemic feature of Earth's climate for hundreds of thousands of years and may play an active role in longer term climate variability through its influence on ice age terminations.

Dr Barker added: "It is intriguing to get an insight into what abrupt climate variability may have looked like before the Greenland records begin. We now have to wait until longer Greenland records are produced so that we can see how successful our prediction is."

The new predictions provide an extended testing bed for the climate models that are used to predict future climate variability.

The collaborative research was funded in part by a Leverhulme Trust Philip Leverhulme Prize awarded to Dr Barker at Cardiff University. The prize recognises the achievement and potential of outstanding researchers at an early stage in their careers but who have already acquired an international reputation for their work. The Natural Environment Research Council and National Science Foundation in the United States also funded the research.

.


Related Links
Cardiff University
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CLIMATE SCIENCE
Extreme summertime temperatures to become a regular occurrence
New York NY (SPX) Sep 12, 2011
In an article in the current issue of the journal Climatic Change Letters, Boston University researchers have estimated the impact near-term increases in global-mean temperatures will have on summertime temperatures in the U.S. and around the globe. The "2C global warming target" is in reference to the current international efforts to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases and limit human ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
United Launch Alliance Launches GRAIL Spacecrafts To Moon

NASA launches twin spacecraft to study Moon's core

Second bid to launch NASA's Moon-bound spacecraft

NASA to launch Moon-bound twin spacecraft

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Orbiter Resumes Use of Camera

Sealed-in British scientist relies on plants to breathe

Microbe Risk When Rover Wheels Hit Martian Dirt

Finishing Work at Tinsdale 2

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Space food, shuttle tiles for sale by NASA

Planetary Congress meeting in Moscow

US Congress sends Obama major patent overhaul

NASA Needs to Preserve Skilled Astronaut Corps In Post-Shuttle Era

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Tiangong 1 might be launched in late September

Chang'e-2 moon orbiter travels around L2 in outer space

China State media says Tiangong 1 to launch in early Sept

Time Limits for Tiangong

CLIMATE SCIENCE
NASA Sits Tight as Unmanned Space Station Considered

Russia sets space crew's return after crash

NASA mulls 'what-ifs' of unmanned space station

Wyle Selects Paragon Software For Disaster Recovery Solutions For ISS

CLIMATE SCIENCE
European satellite in French Guiana launch

Arianespace to launch Amazonas-3 for Hispasat

Roscosmos to enhance control of Soyuz rocket engines' production

Russia beefs up Plesetsk space center funding

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Invisible World Discovered

The diamond planet

Greenhouse Effect Could Extend Habitable Zone

A Planet Made of Diamond

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Samsung files patent complaint against Apple in France

Two radiation generators mark major milestones in helping protect the US

Falling satellite could scatter debris

Aitech Appoints Vice President for Growing Space Business Sector




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement