National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Friday, September 5, 2008

Photo: Ancient Warming Caused Huge Spike in Temps, Study Says


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

A chart of temperature data for the past 65 milion years shows the sudden and brief spike known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM).

The spike may have been caused when vast icelike reserves of greenhouse gases melted in response to a small warming event, according to a new study that raises dire possibilities for Earth's current warming.

Image by Robert A. Rohde/Global Warming Art under GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2