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Have we discussed Climate Change today?
Posted on: December 26, 2023 at 07:48:34 CT
Ace AU
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They're braving some of the highest, driest, coldest and windiest conditions on the planet, but American scientists in Antarctica believe the effort is worth it. They're searching for a sample of the oldest ice ever found, which could help us better understand climate change.
The expedition to Antarctica is part of COLDEX, a federally funded collaboration of American universities and science organizations. For the team carrying out this work near the South Pole, it means camping on the ice without showers or flushing toilets for seven weeks.
Once researchers collect ice samples, scientists back in the U.S. will examine them for information about what the climate was like hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"The study of ice has shown us with extreme clarity what humans are doing to the Earth," Ed Brook, the director of COLDEX, said.
Air bubbles in ice trap greenhouse gasses
As snow falls it traps in tiny air bubbles from the day it fell. The snow in Antarctica never melts because it's so cold. Ice builds up, layer upon layer, with all those air bubbles inside. Scientists then measure the levels of greenhouse gasses trapped inside those bubbles. That allows them to reconstruct how the climate changed in the distant past.
"The information that we get, particularly from ice cores, is just so critical to our bedrock understanding of how Earth's climate works," Peter Neff, field research director for COLDEX, said.
The oldest existing ice core goes back 800,000 years. Scientists analyzed the ice cores over time, and they show that the amount of carbon dioxide, which is the big driver of climate change, goes up and down.
The level skyrocketed after the Industrial Revolution, then continued to get higher every year, which further warms our planet.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-for-oldest-ever-ice-in-antarctica/
Edited by Ace at 08:48:05 on 12/26/23
The expedition to Antarctica is part of COLDEX, a federally funded collaboration of American universities and science organizations. For the team carrying out this work near the South Pole, it means camping on the ice without showers or flushing toilets for seven weeks.
Once researchers collect ice samples, scientists back in the U.S. will examine them for information about what the climate was like hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"The study of ice has shown us with extreme clarity what humans are doing to the Earth," Ed Brook, the director of COLDEX, said.
Air bubbles in ice trap greenhouse gasses
As snow falls it traps in tiny air bubbles from the day it fell. The snow in Antarctica never melts because it's so cold. Ice builds up, layer upon layer, with all those air bubbles inside. Scientists then measure the levels of greenhouse gasses trapped inside those bubbles. That allows them to reconstruct how the climate changed in the distant past.
"The information that we get, particularly from ice cores, is just so critical to our bedrock understanding of how Earth's climate works," Peter Neff, field research director for COLDEX, said.
The oldest existing ice core goes back 800,000 years. Scientists analyzed the ice cores over time, and they show that the amount of carbon dioxide, which is the big driver of climate change, goes up and down.
The level skyrocketed after the Industrial Revolution, then continued to get higher every year, which further warms our planet.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-for-oldest-ever-ice-in-antarctica/
Edited by Ace at 08:48:05 on 12/26/23
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Have we discussed Climate Change today? - Ace AU - 12/26 07:48:34
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