Research
The science of Paleoclimatology attempts to understand the history of greenhouse and icehouse conditions over geological time. Through the study of ice cores, dendrochronology, ocean and lake sediments (Varve), Palynology (fossilized pollen) and isotope analysis (such as Radiometric dating), scientists can create models of past climate. From such models, scientists have determined that the atmospheric carbon dioxide of the earth could have been up at least 350 times higher than our modern day levels. One study has shown that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the Permian age rocked back and forth between 250 parts per million (which is close to present-day levels) up to 2,000 parts per million. Studies on lake sediments suggest that the "Hothouse" or "super-Greenhouse" Eocene was in a "permanent El Nino state" after the 10°C warming of the deep ocean and high latitude surface temperatures shut down the Pacific Ocean's El Nino-Southern Oscillation. A theory was conducted for the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum on the sudden decrease of carbon isotopic composition of global inorganic carbon pool by 2.5 parts per million. A hypothesis noted for this negative drop of isotopes could be the increase of methane hydrates, the trigger for which remains a mystery. This increase of methane in the atmosphere, which happens to be a potent, but short-lived greenhouse gas, increased the global temperatures by 6°C with the assistance of the less potent carbon dioxide.
Read more about this topic: Greenhouse And Icehouse Earth
Famous quotes containing the word research:
“If politics is the art of the possible, research is surely the art of the soluble. Both are immensely practical-minded affairs.”
—Peter B. Medawar (1915–1987)
“Men talk, but rarely about anything personal. Recent research on friendship ... has shown that male relationships are based on shared activities: men tend to do things together rather than simply be together.... Female friendships, particularly close friendships, are usually based on self-disclosure, or on talking about intimate aspects of their lives.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)
“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?””
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)