Ice streams provide signature clues
An international team of scientists is looking at geological 'signatures' on the ocean floor as a way to understand climate change. Caused by ice sheets and rapid streams of meltwater during ice ages, the researchers expect these markings of the past will provide the kind of information that will help us prepare for future ice dynamics. Results from the project are published in the journal International Innovation. The work was carried out under the NICE-STREAMS ('Neogene ice-Streams and sedimentary processes on high-latitude continental margins') project, an initiative conducted under the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a worldwide research campaign in support of polar science. Ice streams, the focus of the NICE-STREAMS project, develop at the edges of ice sheets and are the main channels for unloading and draining ice. Over thousands of years, this activity has left deep scars on the marine landscape of polar regions, and has played a significant role in shaping the sea floor, in particular. 'Studying the ice streams of the past is fundamental in understanding present-day ice dynamics and their link to climate change,' explained Dr Angelo Camerlenghi of the University of Barcelona in Spain, the institute that heads the NICE-STREAMS project. For the scientists involved, the clues inherent in these markings can provide information on ocean-climate interactions and the stability of large ice masses, which may ultimately lead to better climate change simulations and predictive models. As with much research into the causes of climate change, the team's greatest obstacle is determining whether the geological markings are natural or not. 'We should remember that natural climate change is part of the Earth's physiology. Distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic origins of climate change is one of our most difficult challenges,' said Dr Michele Rebesco from the National Institute of Oceanography and Geophysics in Italy. The study has already mapped more than 30,000 square kilometres of sea bed and generated almost 2,000 kilometres of seismic reflection profile. By the end of the research, information from both hemispheres will have been generated, allowing the team to design new models of fast-flowing ice streams. Dr Camerlenghi explained that geological reconstructions of natural change that has occurred in the past clearly show that our climate is changing at a faster pace than ever before. 'Model predictions tend to be contradicted by observations, which have shown in recent years that the response is much faster than suggested by the simulations. Our studies of the recent past will hopefully provide the ideal data for improving predictive models,' concluded Dr Camerlenghi. The IPY represents an intense period of interdisciplinary research in which tens of thousands of scientists from across the globe combine their efforts to generate an overview of the state of the polar regions which, despite their remoteness, have a profound impact on climate and the way we live. The EU contributed to the IPY through a number of projects funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
Countries
Spain, Italy