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Climate instability over the past 720,000 years - new analysis of ice core

May 8, 2017

Released on February 9, 2017 (in Japanese)

National Institute of Polar Research
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Hokkaido University
Nagoya University
Tohoku University
Kitami Institute of Technology
Hirosaki University
Tsukuba University
Kyoto University
Shinshu University
Yamagata University
University of the Ryukyus


Ice Core from the Dome Fuji station

A new analysis of an ice core from Dome Fuji in Antarctica, along with climate simulation results, shows a high degree of climate instability (that is, rapid climate fluctuations) within glacial periods with intermediate temperatures.  This instability was attributed primarily to global cooling caused by a reduced greenhouse effect.

A research group formed by 64 researchers from the National Institute of Polar Research, the University of Tokyo, and other organizations, including YU, analyzed atmospheric temperatures and dust for the past 720,000 years using an ice core obtained at Dome Fuji in Antarctica.  Results indicate that when intermediate temperatures occurred within a glacial period, the climate was highly unstable and fluctuated.  A climate simulation was also performed based on the Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model, which revealed that the major cause of the observed climate instability was global cooling by a decline in the greenhouse effect.      > View full press release icon_pdf.png

 

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