Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 8 May 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5365, pp. 828 - 829
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5365.828b
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research News

PALEOCLIMATOLOGY:
A Dusty Ice Age Trigger Looks Too Weak

Richard A. Kerr

Most climate researchers believe that the 100,000-year cycle of the ice ages is driven by the changing ellipticity of Earth's orbit, but one physicist has argued that the changing tilt of Earth's orbital plane dips it in and out of a cloud of climate-altering interplanetary dust. Now, on page 874, two planetary scientists report calculations suggesting that dust should indeed fall to Earth in a 100,000-year cycle matching the ice ages, but the amount involved appears to be too small to alter climate.

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)