{"id":18389,"date":"2014-07-02T18:02:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T22:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=18389"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:42:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:42:25","slug":"halting-ocean-currents-may-doubled-ice-age-cycles-length-millon-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/halting-ocean-currents-may-doubled-ice-age-cycles-length-millon-years-ago.htm","title":{"rendered":"Halting ocean currents may have doubled ice age cycle length a million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For millions of years, ice ages ran like clockwork in 41,000-year cycles. But around a million years ago, an unknown force lengthened the cycle to 100,000 years and caused markedly colder glacial periods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole climatic system of our planet changed completely,\u201d said Leopoldo Pena, paleoceanographer and assistant research professor at Columbia University. \u201cThis has been a puzzle in our profession for the past couple of decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The solution for that puzzle may be soon at hand, as a new study, led by Pena, suggests deep ocean currents might be responsible for the cycle shift. The currents, which Pena compared to baggage claim conveyor belts, move warm shallow water and cold deep water between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a 1,000-year cycle called thermohaline circulation.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers sampled sediments off the South African coast to measure isotopes of neodymium, an element that reflects the unique composition of continental crusts, and reveals signs of North Atlantic seawater. The shells of long-gone plankton provided the perfect medium for neodymium to affix itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe used microfossils that are deposited in the sediments over thousands and thousands of years,\u201d Pena said. \u201cThey\u2019re like little time capsules.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18394\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18394\" class=\"wp-image-18394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IceAgeBodyimg4-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"Neodymium isotopes in the above fossils were isolated and measured in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory\u2019s Ultra Clean Lab (Credit: Kim Martineau, LDEO)\" width=\"600\" height=\"452\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-18394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Neodymium isotopes in the above fossils were isolated and measured in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory\u2019s Ultra Clean Lab (Credit: Kim Martineau, LDEO)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Learning from the fossilized shells wasn\u2019t easy. Only a few nanograms of neodymium could be extracted from hundreds of minuscule shells in each sample. The researchers then measured the isotopes in the sample.<\/p>\n<p>The sediment samples revealed that starting over 1 million years ago, the deep sea currents between the Atlantic and Pacific began to slow and weaken, remaining crippled for the next 100,000 years.<\/p>\n<p>As the slowing currents circulated less warm water around the globe, ice sheets around the poles may have grown larger instead of melting, allowing the 100,000-year cycle to occur. However, another hypothesis suggests a role-reversal: spreading ice sheets could have slowed deep currents and reduced CO2 release from the oceans, resulting in further ice growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t this like the chicken and the egg?\u201d Pena asked. \u201cThe answer is that we don\u2019t really know what happened but it seems that in the past ice sheets might have reached a critical state\u2026 that we believed might have triggered this cool down in the Atlantic ocean, leading to larger ice sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18395\" style=\"width: 436px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18395\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18395\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IceAgeBodyimg5.jpg\" alt=\"The researchers found that ocean currents slowed 950,000 years ago, triggering a new phase of colder but less frequent ice ages (Credit: Leopoldo Pena)\" width=\"426\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IceAgeBodyimg5.jpg 426w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IceAgeBodyimg5-300x185.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 426px) 100vw, 426px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-18395\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The researchers found that ocean currents slowed 950,000 years ago, triggering a new phase of colder but less frequent ice ages (Credit: Leopoldo Pena)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>But what does ancient climate change have to do with modern humanity? Potentially quite a lot.<\/p>\n<p>Pena said the oceanic and atmospheric cycles of the past could provide insights into climate change issues today. Analogues between past and present can help scientists develop better climate models.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the last 100 years, we\u2019ve pumped into the atmosphere the same amount of CO2 that would be produced coming out from a glacial period,\u201d Pena said. \u201cWhat naturally occurs over tens of thousands of years, we\u2019ve done in 100 years, and we don\u2019t know if the system can accommodate that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the end everything is connected,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to look at the atmosphere and the oceans together. You always have to look at the big picture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clues in tiny fossils may have revealed a connection between halting deep ocean currents and a sudden doubling of the length of ice age cycles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":18396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-18389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oceans-coasts","tag-featured"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Halting ocean currents may have doubled ice age cycle length a million years ago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Clues in tiny fossils may have revealed a connection 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