Glacier "Tree Rings" Could Hold Clues for Planet's Future

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Posted March 20, 2019

Image: Courtesy of Sarah Aarons / University of Chicago

Buried in the ice of Antarctica are records of what Earth looked like 130,000 years ago, when the glaciers last melted—and what it might look like again in the future.

As ice was laid down in successive layers from previous years, it acted like tree rings, recording weather patterns and circulation as Earth cycled through colder and warmer periods. In a new study, OPP-funded scientists found that volcanic dust embedded inside the ice samples suggests that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during the last warm period 130,000 years ago—which researchers are eager to know because a similar collapse today would have major implications for the world’s population.

“There is some evidence from coral reefs that suggests the oceans were 16 to 30 feet higher during the last interglacial period then than they are today, so people really want to know where that extra water came from,” said Sarah Aarons, a University of Chicago postdoctoral researcher who led the study, which was published online last month in Geophysical Research Letters.

Read more in a university news release here: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/glacier-tree-rings-could-hold-clues-planets-future

The work was supported by this collaborative NSF award: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1246702