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(Last updated 1/10/01)
- Previous Ohio State research stories about the ice core analyses and paleoclimatolory:
- Himalayan Ice Cores Reveal Climate Warming, Catastrophic Drought, (9/8/00)
- Oldest Ice Core From The Tropics Recovered, New Ice Age Evidence, (12/3/98)
- Researchers In Himalayas Retrieve Highest Ice Core Ever Drilled, (11/21/97)
- Researchers Date Chinese Ice Core To 500,000 Years, (6/12/97)
- Latest Evidence Of Global Warming Found In Tropics And Subtropics, (4/23/97)
- Ice Cores Show Record Of Climate Dating Back 20,000 Years, (7/26/95)
- Chinese Ice Cores Provide Climate Records Of Four Ice Ages, (11/30/92)
- Evidence Of Global Warming Reported To Senate Hearing, (3/6/92)
- Chinese Ice Cap May Reveal Clues To Earth's Climate, (7/2/91)
- Coverage of OSU Research
OHIO STATE RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTED BY DISCOVER MAGAZINE
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Results from an expedition made late last year by glaciologists at Ohio State University have been included in Discover magazine's list of the 50 most important scientific discoveries of the year 2000.
The
magazine looked at findings by researchers from around the world
in the fields of genetics, space, physics, medicine, paleontology,
ancient life, evolution, environment, biology, geology and other
areas. Since its beginnings, the magazine has provided an annual
listing of the most important advances in science reported in
that year.
Discover focused on the work of Lonnie Thompson, a professor of geological sciences and researcher with the
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"Since the ice is produced in annual layers, it creates a chronological record of ancient climate." |
The magazine quoted Thompson saying, "We now have a record from 23,500 feet in the atmosphere (about as high as instruments are carried in a weather balloon), one that has been preserved naturally, that shows the last 50 years were warmer than any other equivalent period in the last 1,000 years."
Thompson, his partner Ellen Mosley Thompson, professor of geography, and their colleagues have spent more than two decades drilling cores through ice caps and glaciers throughout the world. Analyses of gas content, particulates, nitrates, dust and other indicators allow them to paint a clear picture of what the climate was like when the ice was formed. And since the ice is produced in annual layers, it creates a chronological record of ancient climate.
The team's studies have yielded climate records from five continents, including some stretching back more than 100,000 years and through many ice ages. By comparing these records to those of the top-most layers of these cores, they hope to get a picture of how modern climate is changing, including clues to possible global warming and other planetary climate events.
The work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and others.
Contact: Lonnie Thompson, (614) 292-6652; thompson.3@osu.edu or Ellen Mosley-Thompson, (614) 292-6662; ethompso@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
[Note: The latest story on the Thompsons' research can be
found on the web at the following URL (http://www.osu.edu/units/research/archive/monsoon.htm).]
(Note: Electronic image files are available to supplement this story. Please click here to go to larger versions of these images or contact Earle Holland at address below.)