Is the mystery of the Antarctic ice sheets answered?

The Cardiff University research team in Earth and Ocean Sciences and scientists from the Amgueddfa Cymru Science Museum in Wales came to Africa to look for new evidence of climate change that helps explain the secrets. hidden around the appearance of the Antarctic ice sheets.

The formation of Antarctic ice sheets is one of the most important weather changes in Earth's history. However, previous temperature records do not provide any evidence of the fact that oceans lower their temperature during that time while actually warming up. This also shows a picture of the puzzling climate system that has long been a mystical ancient climate.

The Foram species named ' Halkyardia minima ' is about the size of a needle. (Photo: Image courtesy of Cardiff University)

Dr. Carrie Lear, a climate science professor, and his colleague at Cardiff, have released new temperature records using the ancient ocean mud layer taken from Tanzania - East Africa. The study of the shell of the needle-sized animal - foraminifera (also called forams) revealed that ocean temperatures actually decreased by 2.5 ^° C.

Dr. Lear said: 'The Forams species is a very useful tool for studying the past climate, helping us learn about greenhouse climate change in the future. The new notes will help answer the long-standing puzzle of widening the ice sheets next to the phenomenon of lower global temperatures. "

'We can use the chemical properties of stone microelements in Tanzania to produce temperature records as well as ice volumes during the transition period between two major climatic changes. These new documents show that oceans around the world have reduced temperatures during the development of a ribbon. Ice volume may occupy the vast Antarctic region. There is also a compatibility between computer climate models and past climate data. "

Cardiff University's earth, ocean and planetary science research teams will look for evidence for the underlying causes of global cooling by using forams. They believe the most suspicious factor is the gradual reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combined with the period of orbiting the earth around the sun, making the Antarctic summer cold enough to sustain the ice sheets. for a year.

The study was funded by NERC and published in the March issue of the Geological Society of America.