Some 125,000 years ago, during the last brief warm period between ice ages, Earth was awash. Temperatures during this time, called the Eemian, were barely higher than in today’s greenhouse-warmed world. Yet proxy records show sea levels were 6 to 9 meters higher than they are today, drowning huge swaths of what is now dry land. Scientists have now identified the source of all that water: a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Glaciologists worry about the present-day stability of this formidable ice mass. Its base lies below sea level, at risk of being undermined by warming ocean waters, and glaciers fringing it are retreating fast. The discovery, teased out of a sediment core and reported last week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., validates those concerns, providing evidence that the ice sheet disappeared in the recent geological past under climate conditions similar to today’s. “We had an absence of evidence,” says Anders Carlson, a glacial geologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, who led the work. “I think we have evidence of absence now.”
Science 18th Dec 2018 read more »
Smaller Scottish companies are less prepared to deal with the impact of climate change compared to larger firms, new polling suggests. A lack of direction from Government are among the concerns of firms who could see the prices of raw produce from crops increase, while energy costs also go up. Only two in five of Scotland’s small and medium-sized firms feel prepared to deal with the risks, according to a survey of 300 businesses commissioned by WWF Scotland. More than three-quarters of larger businesses stated they are either fully or partly prepared.
Scotsman 24th Dec 2018 read more »
The National 24th Dec 2018 read more »