Читать книгу Geology For Dummies - Alecia M. Spooner - Страница 61

In looking into Earth’s past, one area of intense study is paleoclimatology, the study of past climates. Scientists called paleoclimatologists take long, cylinder-shaped samples called cores from ice sheets. In these ice cores, they find trapped gases and dust from the ancient atmosphere that provide clues to the earth’s temperatures long ago. Similar cores of sediments in the bottom of lakes or the ocean may have fossil remains of microscopic organisms. These remains of plant and animal life help scientists called paleoecologists build a picture of the ancient environment and past climates.

These are just two of the types of records scientists use to understand Earth’s past climate conditions. By combining multiple records and including different types of data, paleoclimatologists and paleoecologists build a picture of climate change throughout Earth’s history.

Through these studies, scientists have learned that the earth’s climate has gone through dramatic shifts of warming and cooling in the past. Factors including Earth’s orbital characteristics and the position of the continents are thought to have affected the climate.

By building a more complete understanding of what changes occurred in the past, scientists hope to be able to predict what changes may occur in the future, particularly in light of industrial civilization’s measurable impacts.