Strong Evidence Points to Earth's Proximity to Sun as Ice Age Trigger

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The Dome Fuji deep ice core Antarctica with drill. This ice was retrieved from a depth of 1332 meters (4370 feet) which was deposited about 89000 years ago. Photo: Dr. Hideaki Motoyama National Institute of Polar Research Japan
The Dome Fuji deep ice core, Antarctica, with drill. This ice was retrieved from a depth of 1,332 meters (4,370 feet), which was deposited about 89,000 years ago. Photo: Dr. Hideaki Motoyama, National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

When do ice ages begin? In June, of course. Analysis of Antarctic ice cores led by Kenji Kawamura, a visiting scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, shows that the last four great ice age cycles began when Earth’s distance from the sun during its annual orbit became great enough to prevent summertime melts of glacial ice. The absence of those melts allowed buildups of the ice over periods of time that would become characterized as glacial periods.


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Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops

4 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers ...

EPA: Few volunteering to cut greenhouse gases

5 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog.

Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water. ...

Arctic 'holds 90bln barrels of oil, mostly offshore'

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.

Russian scientists begin trial exploration of world's deepest lake

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Russian scientists leading a submarine expedition to probe the world's deepest lake on Thursday carried out test dives ahead of the start of the operation next week, reports said.
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