Past Million Years

 Evidence of the Quaternary Period from Ice and Sediment cores

Recap on the Quaternary Period (AKA the "ice age"): Extraordinary changes in the global environment were happening at the time. Global cooling that had begun earlier in Earth’s history, culminated into a series of step-like, sudden changes in climatic conditions over the last two and a half million years as the climate began to "seesaw" from cool to warm as the massive polar ice caps expanded and contracted.

How do Scientist Learn about & obtain information about the Quaternary Period?: Scientists’ primary source of obtaining information about the Quaternary Period is by measurements obtained from ice cores and sediment cores.

What is an Ice Core?: A cylinder of ice drilled out of glaciers and polar ice sheets that play an important role in revealing what we know so far about the history of climate.

What do we learn from ice cores?: Ice core records provide the most direct, detailed and complete measure of past climate change that are extremely valuable for comparison with modern observations. Ice cores document not only a wide range of environmental parameters that are both measure of and responses to climate change (e.g., temperature, precipitation and atmospheric chemistry) but also many of the causes of climate change (e.g., solar variability and atmospheric, greenhouse gases). Their high resolution, longtime span and accurate dating, allows them to provide a framework for interpreting other records of past climate such as that in the Quaternary Period.

What is a Sediment Core?: A cylinder of sediment drilled out of terrestrial formations that also play an important role in revealing what we know so far about the history of climate.

What do we learn from sediment cores?: Sediment cores are similar to ice cores in that they provide scientists with a great amount of information about the past. They have helped document where glaciation and deglaciation took place and at what time. From marine sediment cores, scientists have learned that some ice sheets are actually larger than previously believed. Sediment cores, like ice cores, are a very accurate source of obtaining information about the Quaternary Period.

The modern scientific techniques of ice and sediment core drilling have given scientists great insight into the scale and timing of climatic changes in the Quaternary Period. Much of our knowledge about this time in history would be lost without them.

Past Million Years

 Evidence of the Quaternary Period from Ice and Sediment cores

Recap on the Quaternary Period (AKA the "ice age"): Extraordinary changes in the global environment were happening at the time. Global cooling that had begun earlier in Earth’s history, culminated into a series of step-like, sudden changes in climatic conditions over the last two and a half million years as the climate began to "seesaw" from cool to warm as the massive polar ice caps expanded and contracted.

How do Scientist Learn about & obtain information about the Quaternary Period?: Scientists’ primary source of obtaining information about the Quaternary Period is by measurements obtained from ice cores and sediment cores.

What is an Ice Core?: A cylinder of ice drilled out of glaciers and polar ice sheets that play an important role in revealing what we know so far about the history of climate.

What do we learn from ice cores?: Ice core records provide the most direct, detailed and complete measure of past climate change that are extremely valuable for comparison with modern observations. Ice cores document not only a wide range of environmental parameters that are both measure of and responses to climate change (e.g., temperature, precipitation and atmospheric chemistry) but also many of the causes of climate change (e.g., solar variability and atmospheric, greenhouse gases). Their high resolution, longtime span and accurate dating, allows them to provide a framework for interpreting other records of past climate such as that in the Quaternary Period.

What is a Sediment Core?: A cylinder of sediment drilled out of terrestrial formations that also play an important role in revealing what we know so far about the history of climate.

What do we learn from sediment cores?: Sediment cores are similar to ice cores in that they provide scientists with a great amount of information about the past. They have helped document where glaciation and deglaciation took place and at what time. From marine sediment cores, scientists have learned that some ice sheets are actually larger than previously believed. Sediment cores, like ice cores, are a very accurate source of obtaining information about the Quaternary Period.

The modern scientific techniques of ice and sediment core drilling have given scientists great insight into the scale and timing of climatic changes in the Quaternary Period. Much of our knowledge about this time in history would be lost without them.