College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

CORVALLIS, Ore. — New analyses of ancient ice from Antarctica and the air contained inside it are extending the history of Earth’s climate records and expanding researchers’ understanding of how the planet has changed over the last 3 million years.

The findings, published this week in two papers in the journal Nature, show the long-term cooling of Earth’s climate during this period has been accompanied by only a modest decline in heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Climate history recorded in a calcite deposit in a southern Nevada cave indicates that the hot, arid southwestern United States experienced significant shifts in temperature and rainfall over the last 580,000 years.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — A team of U.S. scientists has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica.

The 6-million-year-old ice and the tiny air bubbles trapped inside it provide an unprecedented window into Earth’s past climate, according to a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Large changes in global sea level, fueled by fluctuations in ice sheet growth and decay, occurred throughout the last ice age, rather than just toward the end of that period, a study publishing this week in the journal Science has found.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon is becoming warmer and more prone to drought and will see less snow due to climate change, but people and businesses are also adapting to the challenges of a warming planet, the latest Oregon Climate Assessment indicates.

The assessment, released today by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, shows that Oregon’s annual average temperature increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century and is likely to become as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by 2074.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study investigating ancient methane trapped in Antarctic ice suggests that global increases in wildfire activity likely occurred during periods of abrupt climate change throughout the last Ice Age.

The study, just published in the journal Nature, reveals increased wildfire activity as a potential feature of these periods of abrupt climate change, which also saw significant shifts in tropical rainfall patterns and temperature fluctuations around the world.