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Palaeoclimatology

Cooling a continent

Nature volume 421, pages 221–223 (2003)Cite this article

The effect of greenhouse gases on climate is underscored by modelling work showing that formation of the Antarctic ice sheet, 34 million years ago, occurred largely because of a fall in atmospheric CO2 concentration.

The first continent-wide Antarctic ice sheet formed in earliest Oligocene times1, now dated at about 34 million years ago. Given its global significance, and that the past is one of the few ways we have of peering into our climatic future, understanding that event has been among the main aims in palaeoclimatology. On page 245 of this issue, DeConto and Pollard2 provide an account that differs from the commonly accepted explanation in invoking changes in atmospheric CO2, rather than in ocean circulation, as the determining factor.

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Figure 1: Decline in average global temperature over the past 80 million years of Earth's history.

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  1. Antarctic Research Centre and School of Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade, Wellington, 6005, New Zealand

    Peter Barrett

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  1. Peter Barrett
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Correspondence to Peter Barrett.

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Barrett, P. Cooling a continent. Nature 421, 221–223 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/421221a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/421221a

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