Research in the Canadian Arctic Implicates Global Warming

There has been an ongoing debate for the past fifteen years on climate change and global warming. It is unclear if the current rise in temperatures is due to a natural cycle or if change was caused by humans. There has been false information and accusations on both sides of the argument. However, the theory of a natural warming cycle is slowing diminishing. In October 2009 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a paper detailing research conducted in a lake in the Canadian Arctic. The University of Buffalo has been an integral member in this research and several of the scientific paper’s authors worked for or in conjunction with UB. An article explaining the paper can be found on geology.com’s website at http://geology.com/press-release/arctic-climate-record/ .

In order to analyze the ice from the Arctic lake core samples had to be taken. The core samples taken from this portion of ice are unique because of the period of time they covered. “The sediments are considered unique because they contain rare paleoclimate information,” reported the article. In the past other Arctic core samples have only been able to examine the past 10,000 years. Although that may seem like a significant period of time, in relation to geologic time it provides us with little information. However, in this recent research scientists were able to access core samples that detailed the last 200,000 years.

After studying the given samples scientists discovered, that indeed, the current change in climate is dramatically different than those cycles of the past. ‘The sediments from the mid-20th century were not all that different from previous warming intervals,’ said Jason P. Briner, PhD, assistant professor of geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. ‘But after that things really changed. And the change is unprecedented.’

The scientists discovered that the current temperature of the earth has occured before. The exception is that those previous temperatures occurred due to the heat from the sun. The current angle of the planet and the sun should not result in the warming of the planet. The current tilt of the earth’s axis should actually be causing the earth to cool. Instead it is suspected that due to human interaction the earth is getting warmer.

We are still unsure what the exact cause of the rise in temperature is; however the evidence is mounting for the theory of global warming.