A new long-term paleo-climate study comparing blocks of time past and present has found the Earth is warmer than its been for at least 100,000 years. The paper, published Monday in the journal Nature, compared 5,000 year blocks of time using proxies known to be associated with temperature changes and found that the last time the planet was this warm was during a relatively recent interglacial period that peaked about 120,000 years ago. The study also found there is reason to be worried for the immediate future:
With the link to carbon dioxide levels and taking into account other factors and past trends, Snyder calculated how much warming can be expected in the future. Snyder said if climate factors are the same as in the past – and that’s a big if – Earth is already committed to another 7 degrees or so of warming over the next few thousand years.
The cause of ice ages has been fairly worked out over the last century. But it’s unclear how those future projections in this ice age era study should be taken seriously—seven degrees is high but within the range some climate scientists feel is already front-loaded into the atmosphere or soon to be emitted by standing industries. Other climate scientists noted the findings are interesting, but expressed healthy skepticism, adding that more work needs to done.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2duyfhG
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