RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) -- A team of U.S. ice-coring scientists and engineers in Antarctica, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by Dr. Kendrick Taylor, a research professor with the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at Nevada's Desert Research Institute, have recovered from the ice sheet a record of past climate and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that extends back 68,000 years.
Known as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, DRI says the cylinders of ice that make up the core contain uniquely detailed information on past environmental conditions such as the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, surface air temperature, wind patterns, the extent of sea ice around Antarctica, and the average temperature of the ocean.
The ice containing the record was recovered at a field camp in the center of West Antarctica 650 miles from the geographic South Pole.
Samples of the ice core will be distributed to more than 20 U.S. university and national laboratories that make the measurements. Most of the measurements are indicative of global conditions, not just the remote location where the ice was collected. The information from the project will be used to test and improve the predictions of how the current human-caused increases in greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide and methane are altering the earth¹s climate.
The official National Science Foundation release can be found at the link below:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126761&org=NSF&from=news
