Friday, February 23, 2007

Ice on Greenland: 20 million years earlier?

The Earth had glaciers in parts of the northern hemisphere as far back as 38 million years ago, much earlier than was previously thought.

That is the conclusion of University of Southampton scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS), reported online by the science journal Nature this week.

The research indicates for the first time that there was glacial ice, probably of restricted extent, on Greenland during a time when CO2 levels are thought to have been significantly higher than pre-industrial levels. The findings therefore have implications for our understanding of future climate change in an increasingly CO2-rich world. The next task is to investigate ice extent and stability during this geological analogue for the future.


Interesting. Very interesting.

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