COSEE Ocean Systems: News
In Hot Water: Ice Age Defrosted by Warming Ocean, Not Rise in CO2
Description: Earth's climate can be sensitive. A volcanic eruption or meteorite impact can send enough particles into the air to block the sun and cool the climate. A thickening blanket of greenhouse gases can trap heat. And slight changes in Earth's orientation toward the sun can cause it to cool or warm in so-called Milankovitch cycles. Now, new evidence from a marine sediment core from the deep Pacific points to warmer ocean waters around Antarctica (in sync with the Milankovitch cycle)-not greenhouse gases-as the culprit behind the thawing of the last ice age. [Source: Scientific American]
URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=in-hot-water
Availability: Full Text
Source: Scientific American
Publish Date: 9/27/2007
Reading Level: Basic
Page Length:  

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