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Glaciology and Global Warming

Glaciology and Global Warming. What is the connection?. Climate Change: Today vs Tomorrow. Average temperature today = 15° C Without the greenhouse effect: -18°C Over the past century: A rise of 0.7° C Predictions ( The most catastrophic!) A rise of up to 6° C

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Glaciology and Global Warming

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  1. Glaciology and Global Warming What is the connection? QualityTime-ESL

  2. Climate Change: Today vs Tomorrow • Average temperature today = 15° C • Without the greenhouse effect: -18°C • Over the past century: A rise of 0.7° C • Predictions (The most catastrophic!) • A rise of up to 6° C • Over the next 100 years QualityTime-ESL

  3. The Procedure • Measurements? • Traces of the ancient atmosphere? • Answer: the world’s archives • A huge refrigerator QualityTime-ESL

  4. Midnight Sun Over Antarctica QualityTime-ESL

  5. Antarctica QualityTime-ESL

  6. EPICA European Project of Ice Coring in Antarctica QualityTime-ESL.com

  7. Drilling for Ice Samples QualityTime-ESL

  8. Antarctica • Continent • Twice size of the USA • Driest place on earth • Winds up to 320 km/h • Among the highest mountains QualityTime-ESL.com

  9. The Transarctic Mountains QualityTime-ESL

  10. The Long Trip of a Tiny Snowflake • Story of a snowflake • Compression • Entrapped air • Bubbles of air in the ice • Vectorial forces • Movement (center to the shore) • Fresh water icebergs! • 65% of the world’s drinking water • 95% of the world’s ice • Yet a desert - very little precipitation QualityTime-ESL.com

  11. An Iceberg! QualityTime-ESL

  12. The Initial Project: Vostok Station • Engineers drilled down to 3,270 m • Ice core represents: 400,000 years of compacted ice • Ancient atmosphere Vostok-Russian base QualityTime-ESL.com

  13. Ice Core Samples QualityTime-ESL

  14. Evolution of the Atmosphere Over the Last 400,000 years A shaft: roughly 3,200 m in depth Taking the “samples back” … “the easy part”, but first… They have to …drill “straight” down (through moving ice) After that they have to take the “carrots” of ice up to the surface Carrying out an engineering feat! QualityTime-ESL

  15. An Engineering Feat QualityTime-ESL

  16. Research • Dating of ice • Measurements of radioactivity • Correlation with identifiable volcanic eruptions in the past • By means of marines sediments • Analysis • Deuterium • Ratio 18 O (isotope) to 16 O determines the temperature at formation • Greenhouse gases CO2 and methane (in bubbles) • Variation of gases over the years • Correlation between the quantity of these greenhouse gases and the temperature • Temperature, thus climate at different periods… • And finally… QualityTime-ESL.com

  17. Predictions …over the next 100 years: The least catastrophic: + 1.5° C The most catastrophic: up to + 6° C…! QualityTime-ESL

  18. Conclusion • Over the past century +0.7°C • Up to +21°C by 3000 • Measures to limit production of harmful greenhouse gases • Responsibility of both governments and citizens • Kyoto Protocol of 1997: a first step • Only way to save our planet for the generations to come! QualityTime-ESL.com

  19. Acknowledgements We wish to thank the Laboratoire de Glaciologie de Grenoble and its researchers, who participate in EPICA European Project of Ice Coring in Antarctica QualityTime-ESL

  20. Thank you for your attention!  QualityTime-ESL

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