Falling snow flakes are humbling. Not just because of their beauty, but also because of their gentle ability to completely paralyse a developed and overpopulated country with traffic jams, clogged railroad switches and closed runways. But although that (together with … Continue reading
Yes, during ice ages it can be a bit chilly. That’s why stuff that happened in the Pleistocene is easily linked to climate cooling. Like asteroids falling from the sky. Or volcanoes erupting.
Judging by new ocean sediment measurements and climate model runs the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was ‘at least as strong’ during the last ice age’s Last Glacial Maximum as it is today.
There is climatology and there is paleoclimatology. And then there is something in between. You thought yesterday´s trip to the early Pleistocene was geologically speaking exactly that, a trip to yesterday? Well, in that case today we go only a … Continue reading
Sediment deposits along shores of Antarctica, New Zealand and Chile suggest over 2 million years ago something big must have plunged somewhere in the middle of that triangle, creating a mega tsunami with hundreds of meters high waves engulfing coastal … Continue reading
Because cooler climates also tend to have lower evaporation, they tend to be moister climates, with not only moist air, but also moister (dead) biomass – and we all know wet twigs don’t burn too well…
The picture below shows Pinyon pine forests in New Mexico – and the progressive consequence of the large drought that hit western North America between 2000-2004. The left image is from 2002 and already shows some browning of pine trees halfway … Continue reading