Science Bulletins: Shrinking Glaciers-A Chronology of Climate Change

Analysis of Earth's geologic record can reveal how the climate has changed over time. Scientists in New Zealand are examining samples from the rocky landscape once dominated by glaciers. They are employing a new technique called surface exposure dating, which uses chemical analysis to determine how long minerals within rocks have been exposed to the air since the glaciers around them melted. Comparisons of this data with other climate records have revealed a link between glacial retreat and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air, findings that are informing scientists' understanding of global climate change today.
Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History. Find out more about Science Bulletins at www.amnh.org/sciencebulletins/.
Related Links
Glacier advance in southern middle-latitudes during the Antarctic Cold Reversal
www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v3...
Glacier retreat in New Zealand during the Younger Dryas stadial
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20...
The Last Glacial Termination
www.sciencemag.org/content/328...
GNS Science
www.gns.cri.nz/
University of Maine: Department of Earth Sciences
umaine.edu/earthsciences/resea...
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
www.ldeo.columbia.edu/
Columbia University: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
eesc.columbia.edu/

[@babycarrot777]

1:23 - dating glaciers, what they did, etc. 2:43 - surface exposure dating 4:46 - production rate of beryllium 5:36 - the process 7:02 - Co2 levels

[@xecute9455]

1:55 I didn’t know Logic was with them

[@joaquinaespindola9217]

this is amazing!

[@Loagun]

Wouldn't the boulder already have this beryllium deposits from before it was buried in snow/ice. And if so how are we distinguishing between the 'ages' of the beryllium surface deposits itself to know if its 'old' or 'new' (before/after uncovering) ? This seems to prove nothing.

[@grinfacelaxu]

Nice!

[@OvidiuBucur]

Nope, we're due for one in about 80 000 years, if the CO2 output doesn't change that. Anyway, research the Milankovici cycle, it relates to ice ages kind of :)

[@XOTheCrystalStarrOX]

Soo, we're going to have a way bigger ice age than ever before when we finally go through another one of Earth's naturally occurring events (an ice age) due to the fact we are putting out way more CO2 than ever before? Aren't we due for another ice age like now?

[@djagoscott5694]

would anyone consider new information new discoveries ? Symbols of an Alien Sky , is one really good theory , that means that we had a different solar system , Saturn was our sun , and it was a linear solar system - the other is the earth grows , that is why - so many archaeological finds are similar all over the world .

[@greenman3610]

no, we are not due for another ice age for tens of thousands of years. the causative factor is changes in the orbital cycle and axial tilt, which have been well measured, and are currently exerting a very slight cooling effect - which can be seen in paleoclimate measurements, up till the last 200 years, when we started to warm dramatically

[@TealMjM]

Hmm, wonder what also began to occur 200 years ago and warm the climate dramatically...

[@kl.johnny2232]

After ALL the polar AND glacial ice melt is done with, the waters (the 2nd Great Flood) WILL return to cover up ALL the mountains again!

[@Loagun]

But the Bible says not all the mountains were covered

[@kl.johnny2232]

@@Loagun EVERYTHING on Earth was covered with water UNTIL the waters receded, n land was seen again, by Prophet Noah living in his ark.

[@zargnot]

When will humans learn to change their ways, I fear they will not until there is significant blood. Mother nature will continue to change and shift as it always has. It just might not have a place for us in the future. I am certain that conditions will worsen severely before humanity truly learns to live in harmony with the planet if we ever do at all.