Ice Ages News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Faster Flowing Glaciers Could Help Predict Nearby Volcanic Activity

Nov. 13, 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 ...

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. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:22pm EST

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 ...

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 the ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Slowing Ocean Current Could Ease Arctic Warming -- A Little

Oct. 25, 2024 — The Arctic is warming at three to four times the global average. However, new research suggests the slowing of a key ocean current could reduce projected Arctic warming by up to 2 degrees Celsius by ...

Gut Bacteria Transfer Genes to Disable Weapons of Their Competitors

Oct. 24, 2024 — New research shows that a large, ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the antagonistic weaponry of Bacteroides fragilis, a common bacterium of the human ...

Polar Bears' Exposure to Pathogens Is Increasing as Their Environment Changes

Oct. 23, 2024 — As the Arctic warms, polar bears now face a greater risk of contracting several pathogens than bears three decades ago, according to a new ...

'Paleo-Robots' to Help Scientists Understand How Fish Started to Walk on Land

Oct. 23, 2024 — The transition from water to land is one of the most significant events in the history of life on Earth. Now, a team of roboticists, palaeontologists and biologists is using robots to study how the ...

Ethical Framework Aims to Counter Risks of Geoengineering Research

Oct. 23, 2024 — A new report says any research into large-scale interventions in Earth's climate system must be grounded in sound ethical principles so society can make informed choices about whether to deploy ...

Paws of Polar Bears Sustaining Ice-Related Injuries in a Warming Arctic

Oct. 22, 2024 — Polar bears in some parts of the high Arctic are developing ice buildup and related injuries to their feet. The changes appear to be an unexpected consequence of climate change, related to changing ...

New Ice Core Data Provides Insight Into Climate 'Tipping Points' During the Last Ice Age

Oct. 21, 2024 — New research from multiple ice cores collected across Greenland with data spanning up to 120,000 years provides new understanding of abrupt Dansgaard-Oeschger events, how they unfold and what that ...

Loss of Lake Ice Has Wide-Ranging Environmental and Societal Consequences

Oct. 10, 2024 — The world's freshwater lakes are freezing over for shorter periods of time due to climate change. This shift has major implications for human safety, as well as water quality, biodiversity, and ...

Catastrophically Warm Predictions Are More Plausible Than We Thought

Oct. 10, 2024 — Researchers developed a rating system to evaluate the plausibility of climate model simulations in the IPCC's latest report, and show that models that lead to potentially catastrophic warming ...

Snowflake Dance Analysis Could Improve Rain Forecasts

Oct. 10, 2024 — Research observing the physical motion of falling ice crystals could help scientists better estimate where and when these crystals will melt into ...

Researchers Develop New Technique to Measure Previously Undetected Airborne PFAS

Oct. 9, 2024 — For decades, scientists knew there was a huge swath of undetected and unaccounted for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the atmosphere, often referred to as PFAS dark matter, but no one ...

Heavy Metals in the Ocean Become More Toxic

Oct. 9, 2024 — Toxic trace elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium naturally occur in small quantities in coastal seas. However, human activities, such as industry and agriculture, contribute ...

El Niño Linked to Accelerated Ice Loss in Tropics

Oct. 8, 2024 — Natural climate patterns such as El Nino are causing tropical glaciers to lose their ice at an alarming rate, a new study has ...

Antarctic 'Greening' at Dramatic Rate

Oct. 7, 2024 — Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades, new research ...

Iron Nuggets in the Pinnacles Unlock Secrets of Ancient and Future Climates

Oct. 2, 2024 — Small iron-rich formations found within Western Australia's Pinnacles, which are part of the world's largest wind-blown limestone belt spanning more than 1000km, have provided new insights ...

Ancient Sunken Seafloor Reveals Earth's Deep Secrets

Sep. 27, 2024 — Geologists discover a mysterious subduction zone deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, reshaping our understanding of Earth's ...

Ice Cores Show Pollution's Impact on Arctic Atmosphere

Sep. 25, 2024 — A new study on ice cores from Alaska and Greenland found that air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels reaches the remote Arctic in amounts large enough to alter its fundamental atmospheric ...

One in Two El Niño Events Could Be Extreme by Mid-Century

Sep. 25, 2024 — Climate change from greenhouse gas emissions could make extreme El Nino events more frequent, according to new ...

Ancient Reef-Builders Dodged Extinction -- At Least Temporarily

Sep. 25, 2024 — Scientists discovered that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids survived the Late Devonian extinction, contrary to previous beliefs, and continued to thrive. The findings reveal how these organisms ...

Ice Age Clues Point to More Extreme Weather Patterns in Our Future

Sep. 25, 2024 — A new study combines data from ancient shells with advanced climate modeling to shed light on how El Ni o weather patterns might change in a warming ...

Harvests, Wildfires, Epidemics: How the Jet Stream Has Shaped Extreme Weather in Europe for Centuries

Sep. 25, 2024 — Tree-ring data reveal that periodic shifts in strong winds high above the Earth's surface have driven opposite climates in different parts of Europe for the past 700 years and likely much ...