麻豆淫院

(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- University of Cincinnati geologist Tom Lowell is part of a team studying the effects of melting ancient glaciers. The research has implications for global warming, as published this week in Science Express.

Tom Lowell is scared of what his latest research suggests.

Lowell, a professor of geology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, is part of a team that for years has been researching the melting of ice sheets along what is now the border between Canada and the United States around the Great Lakes region.

The group鈥檚 latest results are being published this week in Science Express as 鈥淔reshwater Outburst from Lake Superior as a Trigger for the Cold Event 9,300 Years Ago,鈥� by Shi-Yong Yu, Steven Colman, Lowell, Glenn Milne, Timothy Fisher, Andy Breckenridge, Matthew Boyd and James Teller. The international team represents the University of Minnesota, Tulane University, UC, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toledo, Mercyhurst College, Lakehead University and the University of Manitoba.

Climate records show that about 9,300 years ago, the Northern Hemisphere experienced a massive cooling event. It has been unknown what caused this 鈥� until now.

In the paper, the authors note that 9,300 years ago, Earth鈥檚 climate was very unstable. The North Atlantic Ocean experienced a sudden drop of temperature of about 2掳 C (3.6掳 F).

"We looked at what Lake Superior was doing 9,3000 years ago and found a sudden drop in lake level,鈥� says Lowell. 鈥淪o we suggested that the lake supplied fresh water to the oceans, which altered ocean circulation.鈥�

This work is part of a general theme of the research working on the effects of the melting of the ice sheet. 鈥淗ow large or fast must the melting be to perturb the ocean enough to cause climate change?鈥� asks Lowell.

What concerns Lowell are the potential parallels between those prehistoric events and current climate change.

鈥淐ould future global warming be significant enough that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet might also cause perturbation in the ocean?鈥� he asks.

鈥淭he question is, did it happen?鈥� Lowell adds. He notes that there is a time correlation between sample cores in the Lake Superior/St. Lawrence River samples and the Greenland sample cores

鈥淏ut is it correlative, causative or coincidental?鈥� he asks. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know yet. More research is needed.鈥�

This research, as is other research of Lowell鈥檚, was funded by the Comer Science and Education Foundation. Gary Comer, the founder of Lands鈥� End, after retirement sailed the Northwest Passage in his private yacht.

Lowell says, 鈥淢r. Comer asked himself, 鈥榃hy could I do this when the old-timers couldn鈥檛?鈥� and he realized that we needed to do something about climate change. So he came to the scientists for answers.鈥�

Lowell stresses that studying the ancient past, as he is, is one way of helping us prepare for the future. But it鈥檚 going to take more direct actions, perhaps in the form of geoengineering, to slay the dragon of global warming.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be enough to conserve our way out,鈥� says Lowell. 鈥淥ur concern is not whether climate change is going to happen in our children鈥檚 lives; it鈥檚 how much and what can they live with.鈥�