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Scientists map melting history of Greenland’s ice sheet

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 17 (ANI): Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have mapped the history of the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Numerous drillings have been made through both Greenland’s ice sheet and small ice caps near the coast.

By analyzing every single annual layer in the kilometres long ice cores, researchers can get detailed information about the climate of the past.

But now, the Danish researcher Bo Vinther and colleagues from the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with researchers from Canada, France and Russia, have found an entirely new way of interpreting the information from the ice core drillings.

“Ice cores from different drillings show different climate histories. This could be because they were drilled at very different places on and near Greenland, but it could also be due to changes in the elevation of the ice sheet, because the elevation itself causes different temperatures,” explained Bo Vinther about the theory.

Today, the ice sheet is more than three kilometres thick at its highest point and thinning out towards the coast.

Four of the drillings analyzed are from the central ice sheet, while two of the drillings are from small ice caps outside of the ice sheet itself.

By comparing the Oxygen-18 content in all of the annual layers from the four drillings through the ice sheet with the Oxygen-18 content of the same annual layers in the small ice caps, Bo Vinther has calculated the elevation course through 11,700 years.

Just after the ice age the elevation of the ice sheet rose slightly because when the climate transitions from ice age to warm age, there is a rapid increase in precipitation.

But at the same time, the areas lying near the coast begin to decrease in size, because the ice is melting at the edge.

When the ice melts at the edge, it slowly causes the entire ice sheet to ‘collapse’ and become lower.

The calculations show that in the course of about 3,000 years, the elevation changed and became up to 600 meters lower in the coastal areas.

But in the middle, it was a slow process, where the elevation decreased around 150 meters in the course of around 6,000 years.

It then stabilized.

The new results show the evolution of elevation of the ice sheet throughout 11,700 years and they show that the ice sheet is very sensitive to the temperature.

The results can be used to make new calculations for models predicting future consequences of climate changes. (ANI)

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Climate change is faster in Arctic than in any other location on Earth

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 13 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland have participated in two new studies, which indicate that climate change is progressing faster in Arctic areas than in any other location on Earth.

The study results indicate that the Arctic eco-system has experienced immense changes in the last twenty years.

At many levels, the changes impact the eco-system services that the environment provides for people: the effects extend to the adequacy of natural resources, food production, climate temperature, and result in changes to the landscape.

The changes in the northern nature can be interpreted as an advance warning of what is to be expected on all latitudes.

The results show that spring begins considerably sooner than before.

The blossoming and pollination period of plants starts as much as twenty days sooner in comparison to the situation ten years ago.

Predators are in dire straits because nutrition is now available too soon in relation to the otherwise favourable nesting period.

The distribution of many insects has moved even more north. European winter moths, for example, have destroyed extensive birch areas in Lapland after moving north.

Species invading new areas might supersede the original species in the area, which is already happening to Arctic foxes, which are currently being overrun by red foxes.

Ivory gulls, ringed seals, polar bears and narwhals are examples of species with a small distribution and specialized habitats, and such species will be the first ones to suffer from the changes.

Climate change also has indirect effects that appear in the interaction between different species.

Olivier Gilg and academy professor Ilkka Hanski from the University of Helsinki have teamed up with Benoit Sittler, a researcher from the University of Freiburg, and studied the waning of the previously cyclical population dynamics of the collared lemming in Greenland.

With mathematical models, the researchers showed that the drastic change in the population dynamics of collared lemmings is explained by the fact that snow melts sooner than before.

The lemmings do not procreate as long as before below the snow, and are also easier for predators to hunt.

In addition, frost-melt events in winter form ice layers in the snow layer or at the tundra’s surface, which is why the lemmings are unable to find food like they used to. (ANI)

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Comets, not asteroids, scarred Moon’s face about 4 billion years ago

July 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 28 (ANI): A new study of ancient rocks in Greenland has suggested that icy comets – not rocky asteroids – launched a dramatic assault on the Earth and moon around 3.85 billion years ago, thus causing the lunar surface to become scarred.

“We can see craters on the moon’s surface with the naked eye, but nobody actually knew what caused them – was it rocks, was it iron, was it ice?” Uffe Grae Jorgensen, an astronomer at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, told New Scientist.

“It’s exciting to find signs that it was actually ice,” he said.

Evidence suggests that the Earth and moon had both formed around 4.5 billion years ago.

But, almost all the craters on the moon date to a later period, the “Late Heavy Bombardment” 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago, when around 100 million billion tonnes of rock or ice crashed onto the lunar surface.

To find out whether asteroids or comets were the main culprits for the bombardment, Jorgensen decided to measure levels of the element iridium in ancient terrestrial rocks.

Iridium is rare on the Earth’s surface because almost all of it bound to iron and sank into the Earth’s core soon after the planet had formed. But iridium is relatively common in comets and meteorites.

His team calculated the amount of iridium that asteroids would leave on the Earth and moon compared to comets.

Because comets have more volatile elements and higher impact speeds due to their more elongated orbits around the sun, they would create giant plumes on impact, allowing more iridium to escape into space than during asteroid impacts.

The team predicted that asteroid bombardment would leave iridium levels of 18,000 and 10,000 parts per trillion in rocks on the Earth and moon respectively, while the same figures for comet bombardment would be about 130 and 10.

Ancient moon rocks returned by NASA’s Apollo missions have already confirmed that the lunar iridium levels are 10 parts per trillion or less.

To find out the terrestrial value, Jorgensen’s team sampled some of the world’s oldest rocks from Greenland, aged 3.8 billion years, and asked a Japanese laboratory to assess their iridium levels more accurately than ever before.

They contained iridium levels of 150 parts per trillion, which strongly suggests comets, rather than asteroids, caused the violent bombardment. (ANI)

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Radioactive isotope in ice core record reflects solar activity over 600 years

July 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 4 (ANI): Scientists have analyzed Beryllium-10, a radioactive isotope, found from the NGRIP ice core, Greenland, which reflects solar activity over the past 600 years.

Beryllium-10, a radioactive isotope, is produced in cosmic ray showers.

Because stronger solar activity deflects cosmic rays away from Earth, low levels of beryllium-10 correlate with higher solar activity. However, few extensive beryllium-10 records exist.

Now, A.M. Berggren from the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and his colleagues have described a new 600-year beryllium-10 record from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP), one of only two beryllium-10 records with annual resolution over several centuries.

Comparing the NGRIP record with the Dye-3 record from another site in Greenland, the researchers found that both show similar long-term trends with some short-term differences between the two sites.

The researchers also compared the NGRIP and Dye-3 data with sunspot records and with neutron data, which tracks cosmic ray intensity.

Their results confirm that ice core beryllium-10 reflects solar cycle variations as well as longer-term trends in solar activity.

They note that while recent beryllium-10 values are low, they do not indicate unusually high solar activity compared with the last 600 years. (ANI)

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Sea-level rise may pose greatest threat to Northeast US and Canada this century

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 28 (ANI): A new research has suggested that the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada.

The researchers suggest that moderate to high rates of ice melt from Greenland may shift ocean circulation by about 2100, causing sea levels off the northeast coast of North America to rise by about 30 to 51 centimeters (12 to 20 inches) more than other coastal areas.

The research builds on recent reports that have found that sea level rise could adversely affect North America, and its findings suggest that the situation is even more urgent than previously believed.

“If the Greenland melt continues to accelerate, we could see significant impacts this century on the northeast U.S. coast from the resulting sea level rise,” said scientist Aixue Hu, the research paper’s lead author.

“Major northeastern cities are directly in the path of the greatest rise,” Hu added.

To assess the impact of Greenland ice melt on ocean circulation, Hu and his coauthors used the Community Climate System Model, an NCAR-based computer model that simulates global climate.

They considered three scenarios: the melt rate continuing to increase by 7 percent a year, as has been the case in recent years, or the melt rate slowing down to an increase of either 1 or 3 percent a year.

If Greenland’s melt rate slows down to a 3 percent annual increase, the study team’s computer simulations indicate that the runoff from its ice sheet could alter ocean circulation in a way that would direct about a foot of water toward the northeast coast of North America by 2100.

This would be on top of the average global sea level rise expected as a result of global warming.

Although the study team did not try to estimate that mean global sea level rise, their simulations indicated that melt from Greenland alone under the 3 percent scenario could raise sea levels by an average of 53 centimeters (21 inches).

But if the melt rate continued at its present 7 percent increase per year through 2050 and then leveled off, the study suggests that the northeast coast could see as much as 51 centimeters (20 inches) of sea level rise above a global average that could be several feet.

According to NCAR scientist Gerald Meehl, “Ocean dynamics will push water in certain directions, so some locations will experience sea level rise that is larger than the global average.” (ANI)

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Fiance of Swedish crown princess undergoes kidney transplant

May 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Stockholm – Daniel Westling, fiance of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, underwent a kidney transplant Wednesday and was recovering in hospital, the palace said.

Westling’s father, Olle, was the donor. Both Westling, 35, and his father are doing well, the statement issued late Wednesday said.

The operation took place as Victoria, 31, travelled to Greenland to take part in a visit to study the effects of global warming and climate change along with Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon.

Victoria and Westling announced their engagement earlier this year and are set to marry on June 19, 2010.(dpa)

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Constant sunlight to blame for summer suicides in Greenland

May 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 8 (ANI): As summer strikes Greenland, there is an increase in the suicide rates in the region, and now scientist have blamed the insomnia caused by incessant daylight for this trend.

The new research, led by Karin Sparring Bjorksten of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, studied the seasonal variation of suicides in all of Greenland from 1968-2002.

And it was found that there was a concentration of suicides in the summer months, and that the seasonal effect was specifically more in the North of the country – an area where the sun doesn’t set between the end of April and the end of August.

Bjorksten said: “In terms of seasonal light variation, Greenland is the most extreme human habitat. Greenland also has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. We found that suicides were almost exclusively violent and increased during periods of constant day. In the north of the country, 82 percent of the suicides occurred during the daylight months (including astronomical twilight).”

The researchers found that most suicides occurred in young men, and that 95 percent of suicides were caused by using violent methods, such as shooting, hanging and jumping.

However, the researchers found no seasonal variation in alcohol consumption.

The authors speculated that light-generated imbalances in turnover of the neurotransmitter serotonin could lead to increased impulsiveness, which, in combination with lack of sleep, could explain the increased suicide rates in the summer.

“People living at high latitudes need extreme flexibility in light adaptation. During the long periods of constant light, it is crucial to keep some circadian rhythm to get enough sleep and sustain mental health. A weak serotonin system may cause difficulties in adaptation,” said the authors.

Bjorksten concluded: “Light is just one of many factors in the complex tragedy of suicide, but this study shows that there is a possible relationship between the two.”

The study has been published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry. (ANI)

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UK explorer aims to set new Arctic endurance record

May 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 8 (ANI): UK explorer Adrian Hayes aims to set a new Arctic endurance record. This time the Dubai-based adventurer is hoping to make the longest unassisted Arctic Polar journey in history.

According to Sky News, the former Army officer and his expedition teammates Devon McDiarmid and Derek Crowe will walk the full length of Greenland, from the Atlantic Ocean on the south coast to the Arctic Ocean on the north coast between May and July.

They will be using the power of the wind to kite ski and haul 150 kg sleds for two months over a 3,500km route that has never been done before.

Hayes has been preparing for his epic journey by training in the Arabian Desert. Soon he will go from one extreme temperature to the other: 35c to -35c

He said: “It’s a long way from the Greenland ice cap, but training is training and pulling tyres is a staple diet of polar travel.

“Though we aim to be using kites for the majority of the journey, hauling heavy sleds is an inevitable component of any polar expedition and there is no better preparation for this than pulling tyres,” he was quoted, as saying.

Hayes is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading adventurer/explorers and belongs to an exclusive club. (ANI)

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Earliest backboned land animals had different life histories

April 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 21 (ANI): In new discoveries by researchers from Uppsala, Cambridge and Duke Universities, it has been shown that the earliest backboned land animals had different life histories.

The researchers studied fossil upper arm bones from the two so-called “four-legged fishes”, Ichthtyostega and Acanthostega, from Greenland.

These animals, which lived during the Devonian period about 365 million years ago, were among the earliest vertebrates (backboned animals) with fore- and hindlimbs rather than paired fins.

They belong to the common stem group of all living amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds.

The researchers have identified several half-grown, as well as fully grown, upper arm bones from Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, allowing them to study how the shape of the bone changed during growth.

It turns out that the two animals had different life histories.

“The upper arm bone provides a lot of information about the lifestyle of the animal, because its shape gives clues to the pattern of movement and can tell us for example whether the animal lifted the front part of its body clear of the ground,” said Professor Per Ahlberg at the Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology.

Ichthyostega, which has robust limbs and only a small tail fin, appears to be the more terrestrial of the two.

Its forelimb becomes better adapted to supporting weight as the animal grows up.

The pattern of muscle attachments on the upper arm bone changes from a “fish-like” to a “land animal-like” configuration, and the shape of the shoulder joint changes so that it becomes possible for the animal to “lock” its forelimb into a weight-bearing position.

Acanthostega has feebler limbs and a large tail fin, and seems to have been more aquatic. In this animal, there are no corresponding changes.

“The explanation is probably that both animals laid their eggs in water just like modern amphibians, which meant that the terrestrial Ichthyostega, but not the aquatic Acanthostega, needed to undergo a lifestyle transformation as it grew from larva to adult,” said Per Ahlberg. (ANI)

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Antarctic abyss also affected by global warming

March 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, March 12 (ANI): A new research has shown that even the deepest, darkest reaches of the Antarctic abyss have been affected by global warming.

The research, conducted by Gregory Johnson, of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and a team of international colleagues, suggests the changes could be responsible for up to 20 percent of the observed global sea-level rise.

As part of the CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability) project, Johnson and his team have been spending weeks at a time at sea, tracing straight lines across all of the world’s oceans.

As they make these traverses, they measure the temperatures of the water from the very bottom right up to the surface.

The team takes its measurements along the same routes as expeditions carried out in the 1990s, which provides a picture of how things have changed in roughly one decade.

The researchers are particularly interested in the masses of cold water that sink down to the abyss along the shores of Antarctica before moving north along the ocean floor into the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

These three flows of Antarctic abyssal water overwhelmingly influence the deep waters of the world, says Johnson.

Water sinks off the coast of Greenland too, but the Antarctic abyssal water volume is twice that of the north Atlantic.

Early results from CLIVAR show that abyssal water is warmer now than it was in the 1990s.

The water that travels from Antarctica into the south-eastern Indian basin is roughly 0.1 degree Celsisus warmer. The deep ocean current travelling from Antarctica into the Pacific is 0.03 degree C warmer.

In the northern hemisphere, the deep abyssal Atlantic water, which sits between the ocean floor and the layer of deep water that sinks off the coast of Greenland and travels south, is 0.04 degree C warmer.

The researchers have also looked at the salinity of the deep Antarctic waters, which is important because it affects water buoyancy.

They found that here, too, there is change: in both the southeast Indian Ocean and in the Pacific, the water is less salty today than it was in the 1990s.

“Most likely, this is a direct result of dilution from the melting Antarctic ice,” said Johnson.

According to Johnson, the warming and consequent expansion of the deep water flows may be responsible for between 10 percent and 20 percent of the global sea-level rise seen during that time. (ANI)

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Sea level rise to threaten 1 in 10 humans in low-lying coastal areas by 2100

March 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 11 (ANI): New research has indicated that rising sea levels due to global warming would have major impacts around the world, with a maximum rise of one meter by 2100 endangering one in ten humans in low lying coastal areas.

The research, presented at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen shows that the upper range of sea level rise by 2100 could be in the range of about one meter, or possibly more.

In the lower end of the spectrum, it looks increasingly unlikely that sea level rise will be much less than 50 cm by 2100.

This means that if emissions of greenhouse gases is not reduced quickly and substantially, even the best case scenario will hit low lying coastal areas housing one in ten humans on the planet hard.

New insights reported include the loss of ice from the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets.

According to Dr John Church of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, “The oceans are continuing to warm and expand, the melting of mountain glacier has increased and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are also contributing to sea level rise.”

“As a result of the acceleration of outlet glaciers over large regions, the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are already contributing more and faster to sea level rise than anticipated. If this trend continues, we are likely to witness sea level rise one meter or more by year 2100,” said Eric Rignot, Professor of Earth System Science at the University of California Irvine.

“Unless we undertake urgent and significant mitigation actions, the climate could cross a threshold during the 21st century committing the world to a sea level rise of meters,” said John Church.

The impacts of sea level rise, even in the lower ranges of the current predictions, looks to be severe.

Approximately ten percent of the world’s population – 600 million people – live in low lying areas in danger of being flooded.

A previously released study led by John Church, shows that even a modest sea level rise of 50 centimeters will result in a major increase in the number of coastal flooding events.

“Our study centered on Australia showed that coastal flooding events that today we expect only once every hundred years will happen several times a year by 2100″, said Church. (ANI)

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Rising sea levels from global warming could destroy Thames Estuary in UK

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, March 9 (ANI): Climatologists have warned that rising sea levels caused by global warming could destroy the Norfolk Broads and Thames Estuary in the UK within a hundred years.

According to a report in the Telegraph, low-lying areas of the UK are under threat because the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously thought.

Climate change is also likely to lead to super storms that will batter the coastlines of Britain.

Cities including London, Hull and Portsmouth are all likely to need new defences to prevent devastating flooding.

“It is now clear that there are going to be massive flooding disasters around the globe,” said Dr David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey.

“Populations are shifting to the coast, which means that more and more people are going to be threatened by sea level rises,” he added.

Original predictions suggested sea-level was likely to rise between 20 and 60cm by 2100, but failed to take into account the impact of melting ice-sheets because the data was not understood.

Revised estimates suggest sea-level rises could top one meter by 2100, a figure backed up by the US Geological Survey who said it could reach up to 1.5m.

According to climatologists, storms caused by climate change could see super tidal surges hitting the UK coastline.

East Anglia, the Thames Estuary and low-lying cities are all at risk without huge investment.

“Climate change shows there will be significant increases in storms as global temperatures rise,” said Dr Colin Brown, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE).

“These will produce much more intense gales and hurricanes and these, in turn, will produce massive storm surges as they pass over the sea,” he added.

The IMechE has warned that the country will face massive disruption to its transport and energy systems. Many rail lines run along valleys which will be flooded.

It has also warned that many areas of the country may have to be abandoned because they are too expensive to protect. (ANI)

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Greenland warming lags, but bound to catch up in future

March 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 28 (ANI): A new study has suggested that Greenland is lagging behind rest of the northern hemisphere’s warming trend and that it’s bound to catch up soon.

Air temperatures have been rising steadily in the northern half of the planet since about 1975, when scientists think the effects of human-induced global warming began to dominate the climate.

But, Greenland was left behind, perhaps kept cool when dust released from the eruptions of Mount St. Helens, El Chicon and Mt. Pinatubo reduced the amount of sunlight hitting the ice.

Around 1985, the icy island started to thaw, and has continued apace ever since.

Climate scientists have been alarmed by the speed of the melting, watching as glaciers recede and meltwater pools in lakes on top of the ice.

Now, according to a report in Discovery News, in an analysis of temperature records in Greenland from 1840 until 2007, Jason Box of Ohio State University and a team of researchers found that the ice sheet remains between 1.0 and 1.5 degrees Centigrade behind the rest of the northern hemisphere.

They also determined that it should catch up in the coming decades.

“The temperature increase could be three to four times what we’ve seen already. If that holds it will be far above anything we’ve seen before,” said David Bromwich of Ohio State University. “The ice will continue melting and probably accelerate in the future,” he added.

If Greenland’s ice sheet ever melts entirely, the results would be catastrophic.

The water unleashed into the ocean would be enough to raise sea level 6.5 meters (21.3 feet), jeopardizing the homes and lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Though that’s not likely to happen any time soon, Greenland is already starting to look slushy, and an additional degree or two of warming could be dangerous.

“We’ve said (in a previous study) that if you sustain between 2 and 7 degrees (3.6 to 12.6 Fahrenheit) of warming, Greenland’s ice will be gone,” said Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University.

“It’s already warmed a good chunk of one degree, so if you add another 1-1.5 on top of that, you’re at the low end of really worry, and a lot closer to the upper end, too,” he added. (ANI)

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Moon went “missing” in 1761 due to major volcanic eruption

January 17, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): New evidence has emerged which suggests that a major volcanic eruption in 1761 belched out enough dust and gas to completely blot out the moon, thus explaining the “missing” moon observed that year during a total lunar eclipse.

According to a report in National Geographic News, astronomer Kevin D. Pang collected evidence from the fields of geology, biology, and Chinese history to come up with the theory.

A total eclipse occurs when the moon enters completely into Earth’s shadow.

Lunar eclipses can vary in brightness and color based on the angle of the moon’s path and the composition of Earth’s atmosphere.

While no sunlight hits the moon directly, some gets filtered by Earth’s atmosphere and is bent toward the moon, causing it to shine in hues ranging from bright orange to blood red.

“But when there’s a large volcanic eruption, the moon can drop in brightness by a million times, or in some cases disappear altogether,” Pang said.

Heavy amounts of particles in the air could explain why, in May of 1761, astronomers reported that the moon appeared very dark or disappeared altogether, even with the aid of telescopes.

An atmosphere clogged by a powerful volcanic eruption would also lead to global cooling and trigger extended bouts of strange weather, experts said.

To test his theory, Pang searched the scientific literature about tree rings and ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland.

He found evidence of a “volcanic winter” around the same time as the dark eclipse.

For example, sulfur dioxide gas ejected during a volcanic eruption can react with water vapor in the air to form acid rain, which then leaves chemical fingerprints in polar ice.

Furthermore, bristlecone pine trees high in the Sierra Nevada mountains experienced stunted growth and frost damage in 1761, according to Pang.

The researcher also looked through old Chinese weather chronicles from the early 1760s.

Those records revealed that large parts of China experienced an unusually bitter winter and heavy snowfall in 1761 and 1762.

According to Richard Keen, a climatologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, “Pang is absolutely correct in saying that volcanoes can darken a lunar eclipse.”

A good candidate for the cause of the 1761 events is the Makian volcano on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, according to Pang.

Records show that this volcano experienced a series of eruptions beginning in September of 1760 and lasting until spring of the following year. (ANI)

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Comet smashes triggered “dry fog” that caused famine 1,500 years ago

January 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Jan 8 (ANI): A team of scientists has found evidence that multiple comet impacts around 1,500 years ago triggered a “dry fog” that plunged half the world into famine.

Historical records indicate that from the beginning of March 536 AD, a fog of dust blanketed the atmosphere for 18 months.

During this time, “the sun gave no more light than the moon”, global temperatures plummeted and crops failed, according to Dallas Abbott of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York.

The cause has long been unknown, but theories have included a vast volcanic eruption or an impact from space.

Now, according to a report in New Scientist, Abbott and her team have found the first direct evidence that multiple comet impacts caused the haze.

They found tiny balls of condensed rock vapour or “spherules” in debris inside Greenland ice cores dating back to early 536 AD.

Though the spherules’ chemistry suggests they did not belong to an impactor, they do point to terrestrial debris ejected into the atmosphere by an impact event.

“This is the first concrete geological evidence for an impact at 536 AD,” said Abbott.

The fallout material was also laid down over several years, and some layers were particularly densely deposited.

This suggests more than one impactor was involved – probably a comet, because they tend to fragment on their way to Earth.

Abbott and her team have identified two possible underwater craters whose age ranges fit the global dimming event.

The first appears to have formed when an object roughly 640 metres wide slammed into the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia, and the other when a smaller object crashed into the North Sea near Norway.

Marine microfossils found with the impact spherules are also consistent with an ocean impact. “There’s clearly stuff that has been transported a long distance,” said Abbott. (ANI)

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Cause of glacial earthquakes in Greenland attributed to major ice calving events

January 4, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 4 (ANI): Scientists have clarified that glacial earthquakes in Greenland are caused by major ice calving events, not glacier lurching.

Satellite observations during the past decade have shown dramatic changes in flow speed on year-to-year timescales at Greenland”s outlet glaciers.

Seismic events traced back to glaciers during the same time period have been interpreted to have resulted from calving events at the glacier terminus or surging events lubricated by subglacial meltwater.

To learn more, M. Nettles and G. Ekstrom from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, US, conducted geodetic studies at Helheim Glacier, one of Greenland”s largest outlet glaciers, during summer 2007.

They observed several large and sudden increases in flow speed along the length of the glacier. These accelerations coincided with glacial earthquakes and major iceberg calving events.

No offset in the position of the glacier surface was observed during these events.

Instead, modest tsunamis associated with the glacial earthquakes implicate glacier calving as the generator of seismic events, putting to rest the idea that lurching glaciers are responsible for glacial earthquakes at outlet glaciers like Helheim, and demonstrating a link between ice loss and glacier acceleration. (ANI)

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