The Scientific Study Of Climate Archives

Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

Earth has experienced many episodes of dramatic climate changes with different periods in earth history. There have been periods during which the entire planet has been covered in ice and at another time it has been scorchingly hot and dry. In this regards, earth has experienced at least three major periods of long- term frigid climate and ice ages interspersed with periods of warm climate. The last glacial period which current glaciers are the result of it, occurring during the last years of Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years age (Clayton, 1997). Indeed, glaciers present sensitive indicators of climate change and global warming and by estimating and monitoring the dynamic evolution of these ice masses, several

Ice ages are well documented in Earth’s history, and they are proven to be relatively frequent. But what if that ice age persisted over not just regions near the poles, but around the equator as well? The term “snowball Earth” refers to a condition where Earth is completely covered by ice. Evidence indicates that snowball Earth may have been around in the Neoproterozoic. In fact, evidence points to the conclusion that these conditions happened three separate times in the Neoproterozoic. A snowball Earth condition is hard to prove, but this theory may explain several different phenomena. However, it is not accepted by all, there is evidence against a snowball Earth as well. Some believe that a snowball Earth would not have been possible in past climate conditions while there are views that defend the idea of more of a ‘slushball’ Earth rather than a planet entirely frozen on the surface.

“Discuss how both direct and indirect scientific measurements of atmospheric composition over the last 10,000 years have informed the climate change debate”.

In chapter 11 of the textbook Ruddiman talks about two main greenhouse gases CO2 and methane and how they stayed around in our atmosphere, ice sheets, and land for thousands of years. He states that cores of todays ice sheets contain vital climatic signals which can be found under the center of an ice sheet. Drilling these ice sheets can take longer than a single summer, but in the end this information is crucial. Scientists look at carbon isotopes to determine how carbon has moved along time. Ruddiman states they move in two forms, organic carbon and inorganic carbon. He also says that when the ice sheets were large in size carbon dioxide concentrations were low, but when ice sheets were small or nonexistent then CO2 was higher. There are

A glacier occurs when the climate of an area is so cold that new snow does not completely melt each summer and more snow is added in the winter. After many winters the accumulation of this snow becomes compact and re-crystallizes, thus forming a glacier. Currently, glaciers cover about ten percent of the Earth's surface. Yet, in the past, glaciers covered much more land and were thousands of meters thick. (Tierney)

There are a lot of ways scientist can predict climate like the soil, coral reefs, digging in oceans and lakes and coring into glaciers. Ice cores help them by seeing how the planet's climate was thousands of years ago. These ice cores come from Antarctica, Greenland and any places with glaciers. These ice cores can help predict future climates earth may go through, but it is getting harder to predict. The way they can predict the climate is with the different layers of ice that is formed after a season of snowfall. They can look at these layers and can find different particles in the ice and whatever those partials are can help them predict what year it’s from and what the climate was like then. The oldest ice core dated back 800,000 years

It has been observed through various researches that in the last century, average temperatures across the globe increased by over 1.3°F with an increase of more than two times in the Arctic. (Bates, Kundzewicz, Wu, & Palutikof, June 2008). The results of climate change can also be seen in changing precipitation patterns, increases in ocean temperatures, changes in the sea level, and acidity and melting of glaciers and sea ice (USEPA, 2014).

Fossils may be able to provide evidence for climate change over the course of the Earth’s history. This is because of foraminifera, fossil plants and insects and because of soil layer.

Human produced carbon dioxide mainly caused by the burning of natural resources and deforestation has caused the earth’s temperature to rise (Spahni). The carbon dioxide adds to a problem known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is the building up of different gases in the earth’s atmosphere causing the earth’s temperature to rise. Consequently, the key players in the greenhouse effect are as follows: water vapor 36-70%, carbon dioxide 9-26%, methane 4-9%, and ozone 3-7% (Russel). Thus, to determine the amount of CO2 and other gases that have been in the atmosphere in the past, ice core samples are taken and examined. There are ice core samples taken from as far back as 650,000 years ago (Siegenthaler). There has

The time frame that makes up the Cretaceous-Tertiary period is an area in which causes much controversy and mystery among people. Although research shows us that there was a rapid change in Earth’s climate during this era, there are many different theories that seem to show other sides of the story. During this time there was a global climate change from warm Mesozoic to a cooler Cenozoic (Fluteau, 2014). Although research tells us that there was a substantial change in Earth's climate during this time, it is difficult to grasp what really happened because the data seems to point in many different directions based on the hypotheses. Although both “thought groups” intrinsic gradualists and extrinsic catastrophists show solid hypotheses, the

However, proxies show that the initiation of IRD ~46.25 Ma at site 306, correspond to a >1000 ppm decrease in CO2 gases in the atmosphere (See Figure 5. Note. From ‘Cenozoic ice-rafting history of the central Arctic Ocean: Terrigenous sands on the Lomonosov Ridge’ (St. John 2007)). This correlation between IRD and pCO2 is critical since it leads us to the hypothesis that a decline of pCO2 could have driven the climate in the polar regions over a temperature threshold, which enabled the onset of continental glaciers and ice sheets on the surface of the Arctic Sea (St. John 2008). This is only one of many possible reasons of the NHG onset, where other potential causes suggested for the initiation of the NHG are: events of mountain building; plateau uplift in southern Asia and the American West; Volcanic triggering, resulting in aerosols in the atmosphere; and the closure of Panama Seaway, which would have changed the whole ocean circulation and distribution of cold vs. warm ocean water (St. John et al.

Glaciers are one of the most fundamental phenomenon on the planet, and much of their purpose and impact on earth has been well documented and published. Ice sheets, Ice Caps and Glaciers trap nearly 90% of the world's fresh water, and are replenished by snowfall each year. Their existence on this planet dates back 650,000,000 years and yet they are always moving, always shifting and always melting. Before, human existence and even during the brief era of humans, ice dominated all of the earth's landmass and have regulated, created and altered many of the landscapes around the world.

11,700 years ago the geological epoch the Holocene was thought to of began following the Pleistocene epoch, together these time periods make up the Quaternary period. The Holocene has been described as being relatively warm and with a fairly stable climate. Not only this, but it is thought to coincide with the start of agriculture as human populations rose throughout the Holocene technology became more sophisticated aiding the rise of agriculture (Holden, 2012). The early anthropogenic hypothesis was published in 2003 by Professor W.F. Ruddiman, this was a three part hypothesis in which Ruddiman proposed humans reversed natural decreases in CO2 values within the atmosphere by deforestation. That they reversed natural methane decreases after 5,000 years by irrigating rice, they also caused a warming sufficient to prevent a new glaciation within the last several thousand years and during the Holocene (Ruddiman 2005). This hypothesis has attracted a lot of attention with many people both supporting it and criticising it. Throughout this essay I will be exploring the many arguments for and against the early anthropogenic hypothesis and stating whether or not human kind could have prevented the start of an ice age during the Holocene.

The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) refers to a relatively warm period lasting from about the 10th to the 14th century.2 However, the initial evidence for the MWP was largely based on data3 gathered from Europe, and more recent analyses indicate that the MWP was not a global phenomenon. A number of reconstructions of millennium-scale global temperatures have indicated that the maximum globally averaged temperature during the MWP was not as extreme as present-day temperatures and that the warming was regional rather than global. Perhaps the most well-known of these is that of Michael Mann and colleagues (Nature, 392, 1998, pg. 779). Their reconstruction produced the so-called “hockey stick” graphic that contributed to this conclusion in the 2001 assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “The…'Medieval Warm Period' appear(s) to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries." The accuracy of the “hockey stick” graphic was widely discussed in the press when the Mann et al. methodology was criticized by McIntyre and McKitrick (Geophys. Res. Lettr, 32, 2005, pg. L03710). Less attention was given to subsequent studies, such as that of Moberg and colleagues (Nature, 433, 2005, pg. 613) and Osborn and Briffa (Science, 311, 2006, pg. 841) that were based on different, independent methodologies but reached conclusions similar to Mann. Observations of melting high altitude glaciers are