Ice Ages News

September 29, 2016

Tracking Sea Ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet

Acidity in Atmosphere At Preindustrial Levels

Greenland Rising as Ice Melts

Dirty Little Secret About Carbon Absorption

Latest Headlines

updated 12:57am EDT

Climate Change Jigsaw Puzzle: Antarctic Pieces Missing

Sep. 28, 2016 — A shift in westerly winds, which has led to climate impacts in Australia and the Southern Ocean, is human-induced, new research suggests. To date, limited data on Antarctic ... read more

Caspian Terns Discovered Nesting 1,000 Miles Farther to the North Than Ever Recorded in Alaska

Sep. 23, 2016 — In the late summer of 2016, a field team monitored Caspian tern chicks through to fledging in Cape Krusenstern National ... read more

Greenland Ice Is Melting Seven Percent Faster Than Previously Thought

Sep. 21, 2016 — The same hotspot in Earth's mantle that feeds Iceland's active volcanoes has been affecting scientists' calculations of ice loss in the Greenland ice sheet, causing them to ... read more

Where and How Climate Change Is Altering Species

Sep. 20, 2016 — New research illuminates where and why novel species combinations are likely to emerge due to recent changes in temperature ... read more

Antarctic Mystery Solved?

Sep. 21, 2016 — Tiny ocean fossils distributed widely across rock surfaces in the Transantarctic Mountains point to the potential for a substantial rise in global sea levels under conditions ... read more

WMO Rules on Longest Distance and Longest Duration Lightning Flashes

Sep. 20, 2016 — Experts have established two new world records for the longest reported distance and the longest reported duration for a single lightning flash in, respectively, Oklahoma ... read more

Hurricanes, Storm Surges and Icebergs: How Warmer Seas Are Changing Our Planet

Sep. 20, 2016 — Severe hurricanes, storm surges and an increase in the number of icebergs are just some of the changes planet Earth has ... read more

The Difficulty of Predicting an Ice-Free Arctic

Sep. 20, 2016 — The Arctic is nearing its seasonal sea ice minimum this month, but predicting exactly when the region will see its first ice-free summer may be more difficult than previously believed, according to ... read more

2016 Ties With 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum

Sep. 15, 2016 — The Arctic's ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent on September 10, 2016, according to scientists. Arctic sea ice extent on that day stood at 4.14 million ... read more

Pacific Ocean’s Response to Greenhouse Gases Could Extend California Drought for Centuries

Sep. 15, 2016 — Clues from prehistoric droughts and arid periods in California show that today's increasing greenhouse gas levels could lock ... read more

Ancient Ice Reveals Earth's Climate History

Melting Glaciers Concern for New Zealand Tourism

Climate Change Shrinking Mountain WA Glaciers

Search for Life in Frozen Continent Heats Up

For 20 Million Years, the Diversity of Large Terrestrial Mammals Depended on Plant Growth

Sep. 15, 2016 — For more than 20 million years, the ups and downs of diversity in terrestrial large mammals were determined by primary production, i.e. net production of plant biomass. This pattern changed with the ... read more

All Polar Bears Across the Arctic Face Shorter Sea Ice Season

Sep. 14, 2016 — A new study finds a trend toward earlier sea ice melt in the spring and later ice growth in the fall across all 19 polar bear populations, which can negatively impact the feeding and breeding ... read more

Land-Based Food Not Nutritionally Sufficient for Wild Polar Bears, According to New Study

Sep. 13, 2016 — On average, a polar bear loses up to 30 percent of its total body mass while fasting during the open-water season. Although some scientists previously believed land-based foods could supplement the ... read more

Stalagmites in Indiana Cave May Record Past Earthquakes

Sep. 12, 2016 — Stalagmites rising from the floor of a cave in southern Indiana may contain traces of past earthquakes in the region, according to a new ... read more

Effect of Summer Melt on Greenland Ice Sheet

Sep. 6, 2016 — Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne survey of polar ice, is flying in Greenland for the second time this year, to observe the impact of the summer melt season on the ice ... read more

European Earthworms Decrease Species Diversity in North America

Sep. 6, 2016 — European earthworms invading the forests of North America are responsible for a decline in species diversity in the forest understory. Scientists have now been able to demonstrate this general ... read more

Browsing Antelope Turned Ancient African Forests Into Grassy Savanna Ecosystems

Sep. 6, 2016 — By comparing the timing of the evolution of thorns on about 2,000 woody tree species in southern Africa and the time that antelopes arrived in Africa, a group of scientists found that trees like ... read more

3-D Elevation Maps of Alaska for Released for White House Arctic Initiative

Sep. 1, 2016 — Less than one year after President Barack Obama announced a White House Arctic Initiative that included better mapping of the area, a team of researchers has released the first-ever publicly ... read more

Clues in Ancient Mud Hold Answers to Climate Change

Sep. 1, 2016 — New research suggests that Africa has gradually become wetter over the past 1.3 million years -- instead of drier as was thought ... read more

Subantarctic Seabed Creatures Shed New Light on Past Climate

Sep. 1, 2016 — It takes thousands of years for seabed communities to recover from major glaciation events, new research suggests. The study focused on the seas around South Georgia in the south ... read more

Can Melting of Frozen Methane Explain Rapid Climate Change 56 Million Years Ago?

Sep. 1, 2016 — The release of methane from the seafloor was much slower than previously thought during a rapid global warming event 56 million years ago, report ... read more

Technology and Innovation Not Driven by Climate Change

Sep. 1, 2016 — Climate change was less important for technological innovation among Stone Age humans than previously ... read more

Freshening of the Southern Ocean

Sep. 1, 2016 — Over the past decades, the northward drift of sea ice surrounding Antarctica has strengthened. This not only has increased the extent of the sea ice, but also has freshened the sea water around the ... read more

Sediments Control Methane Release to the Ocean

Aug. 31, 2016 — Methane is stored under the sea floor, concentrated in form of hydrates, crystalline ice structures that stay stable under high pressure and in low temperatures. Several studies suggest that as the ... read more

Technique Could Assess Historic Changes to Antarctic Sea Ice, Glaciers

Aug. 30, 2016 — Historic changes to Antarctic sea ice could be unraveled using a new technique, say scientists. The new method builds on an existing technique developed over the last 10 years, which identified a ... read more

Anti-Friction Solutions? Very Thin Layers of Water Can Become Ice-Like at Room Temperature

Aug. 29, 2016 — New research shows that a nanometer-thin layer of water between two charged surfaces exhibits ice-like tendencies that allow it to withstand pressures of hundreds of atmospheres. The discovery could ... read more

'Anthropocene': Potential New Geological Time Interval

Aug. 29, 2016 — The Working Group on the 'Anthropocene' (AWG) will provide its summary of evidence and its provisional recommendations on a potential new geological time ... read more

By Mid-Century, More Antarctic Snowfall May Help Offset Sea-Level Rise

Aug. 24, 2016 — Scientists have used historical records and climate simulations to examine snowfall trends in Antarctica. They found that the effect of rising temperatures on snowfall has so far been overshadowed by ... read more

Climate Analysis Makes Sense of Antarctic Puzzle

Aug. 24, 2016 — Researchers caution that global warming signals are being masked by random weather variations and report that the human influence on snowfall levels will become detectable within the next few ... read more

A Mystery of Form and Structure: Untangling the Landscape of China's Tarim Basin

Aug. 24, 2016 — Earth scientists have untangled the curious landscape of China's Tarim Basin using a model simulation of ancient events. Despite lying in arid desert and being the site of rapidly growing, ... read more

Thursday, September 15, 2016