Ice Ages News

December 23, 2024

Top Headlines

Dripstones Offer Insights Into Climate Dynamics in Europe

Dec. 20, 2024 — Investigations into precipitation patterns in eastern Central Europe since the end of the last ice age have shown that dynamic processes in atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic jet stream, influence regional changes in precipitation. ...

ESA and NASA Satellites Deliver First Joint Picture of Greenland Ice Sheet Melting

Dec. 20, 2024 — Scientists have delivered the first measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet thickness change using data from ESA and NASA ice satellite missions. With global warming causing the Greenland Ice Sheet to ...

Scientists Solving Meteorological Mysteries on Mars

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists are changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth's atmospheric processes as ...

Researchers Identify a Mysterious Fossil Seed to Reveal New Chapters in Climate History of Los Angeles

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:21pm EST

Chart of Life Extended by Nearly 1.5 Billion Years

Dec. 19, 2024 — Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a new analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago. The ...

Buried Landforms Reveal North Sea's Ancient Glacial Past

Dec. 13, 2024 — Glaciologists used sound waves to reveal Ice Age landforms buried beneath almost 1 km of mud in the North Sea. The results suggest that the landforms were produced about 1 million years ago, when an ...

Superflares Once Per Century

Dec. 12, 2024 — Stars similar to the Sun produce a gigantic outburst of radiation on average about once every hundred years per star. Such superflares release more energy than a trillion hydrogen bombs and make all ...

Seals Strategically Scoot Around the Seas on Icebergs

Dec. 10, 2024 — Harbor seals in icy regions use icebergs shed by glaciers as safe platforms to give birth, care for young and molt. New research finds that as glaciers change with the climate, the resulting changes ...

Antarctica's Irregular Heartbeat Shows Signs of Rapid Melting

Dec. 10, 2024 — Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously ...

Record-Low Antarctic Sea Ice Can Be Explained and Forecast Months out by Patterns in Winds

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers show that the all-time record low in winter sea ice extent in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the ...

Ocean Density Identified as a Key Driver of Carbon Capture by Marine Plankton

Dec. 3, 2024 — New findings have revealed that changes in ocean density have a significant impact on the rate at which marine plankton incorporate carbon into their ...

Rapid Surge in Global Warming Mainly Due to Reduced Planetary Albedo

Dec. 5, 2024 — Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, heatwaves at sea -- 2023 set a number of alarming new records. The global mean temperature also rose to nearly 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial level, another ...

Swelling Streams -- Climate Change Causes More Sediment in High-Mountain Rivers

Dec. 4, 2024 — Many high-mountain rivers in Asia transport more sediment downstream compared to a few years ago. Changes in sediment levels have a particularly ...

Countdown to an Ice-Free Arctic: New Research Warns of Accelerated Timelines

Dec. 3, 2024 — Scientists demonstrate how a series of extreme weather events could lead to the Arctic's first ice-free day within just a few ...

The Melting of Greenland: A Climate Challenge With Major Implications for the 21st Century

Nov. 29, 2024 — The melting of Greenland is accelerating, with an estimated loss of between 964 and 1735 gigatons of ice per year by 2100 in a scenario of high greenhouse gas emissions (SSP585), according to three ...

Researchers Show Complex Relationship Between Arctic Warming and Arctic Dust

Nov. 26, 2024 — A study found that dust from snow- and ice-free areas of the Arctic could be an important contributor to climate change in the region. Higher levels of dust help promote the formation of ice crystals ...

Delay and Pay: Climate Tipping Point Costs Quadruple After Waiting

Nov. 26, 2024 — The cost of reversing the effects of climate change -- restoring melted polar sea ice, for example -- quickly climbs nearly fourfold soon after a tipping point is crossed, according to new work. Much ...

Under-Ice Species at Risk as Arctic Warms

Nov. 26, 2024 — 'Specialist' lifeforms that live under Arctic sea ice are at risk as the ice retreats, new research ...

In Patagonia, More Snow Could Protect Glaciers from Melt -- But Only If We Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions Soon

Nov. 22, 2024 — In an era of dwindling glaciers, Southern Patagonia has managed to hold on to a surprising amount of its ice. But, a new study suggests that this protective effect might be pushed up against its ...

Manatees Might Be Relatively Recent Arrivals to Florida

Nov. 20, 2024 — New research suggests that while manatees are an indelible part of Florida's seascape, they might also be relatively new residents in the Sunshine ...

Political Shadows Cast by the Antarctic Curtain

Nov. 18, 2024 — The scientific debate around the installation of a massive underwater curtain to protect Antarctic ice sheets from melting lacks its vital political perspective. A research team argues that the ...

Faster Flowing Glaciers Could Help Predict Nearby Volcanic Activity

Nov. 14, 2024 — Glaciers that are within three miles of a volcano move nearly 50% quicker than average, a new study has found, which could help create early warning of future ...

Pioneering Research Shows Sea Life Will Struggle to Survive Future Global Warming

Nov. 13, 2024 — A new study highlights how some marine life could face extinction over the next century, if human-induced global warming ...

Was 'Snowball Earth' a Global Event? Study Delivers Best Proof Yet

Nov. 11, 2024 — A series of rocks hiding around Colorado's Rocky Mountains may hold clues to a frigid period in Earth's past when glaciers several miles thick covered the entire ...

Measurements from 'Lost' Seaglider Offer New Insights Into Antarctic Ice Melting

Nov. 8, 2024 — New research reveals for the first time how a major Antarctic ice shelf has been subjected to increased melting by warming ocean waters over the last four decades. Scientists say the study -- the ...

Deep Ocean Clues to a Million-Year-Old Ice Age Puzzle Revealed in New Study

Nov. 8, 2024 — A new study challenges theories regarding the origins of a significant transition through the Earth's ice ages. The research provides fresh insights into the ocean's role in climate during ...

Microplastics Impact Cloud Formation, Likely Affecting Weather and Climate

Nov. 7, 2024 — Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. ...

Groundbreaking Study Provides New Evidence of When Earth Was Slushy

Nov. 5, 2024 — At the end of the last global ice age, the deep-frozen Earth reached a built-in limit of climate change and thawed into a slushy planet. Results provide the first direct geochemical evidence of the ...

Domino Effect in the Amazon Region

Nov. 4, 2024 — The Amazon region is a global hotspot of biodiversity and plays a key role in the climate system because of its ability to store large amounts of carbon and its influence on the global water cycle. ...

Indigenous Cultural Burning Has Protected Australia's Landscape for Millennia, Study Finds

Nov. 1, 2024 — Ancient cultural burning practices carried out by Indigenous Australians limited fuel availability and prevented high intensity fires in southeastern Australia for thousands of years, according to ...

Buried Alive: Carbon Dioxide Release from Magma Deep Beneath Ancient Volcanoes Was a Hidden Driver of Earth's Past Climate

Oct. 30, 2024 — A team discovered that, contrary to present scientific understanding, ancient volcanoes continued to spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from deep within the Earth long past their period of ...

Large Meltwater Accumulation Revealed Inside Greenland Ice Sheet

Oct. 30, 2024 — A new study unveils a surprising discovery: a substantial amount of meltwater is temporarily stored within the Greenland Ice Sheet during summer months. For the first time, an international group of ...

Ancient DNA Brings to Life History of the Iconic Aurochs, Whose Tale Is Intertwined With Climate Change and Human Culture

Oct. 30, 2024 — Geneticists have deciphered the prehistory of aurochs -- the animals that were the focus of some of the most iconic early human art -- by analyzing 38 genomes harvested from bones dating across 50 ...

Melting Arctic Sea-Ice Could Affect Global Ocean Circulation

Oct. 27, 2024 — The warming climate in polar regions may significantly disrupt ocean circulation patterns, a new study indicates. Scientists discovered that in the distant past, growing inflows of freshwater from ...