Open AccessGlaciers and Glaciation
Author(s) -
Clarke Garry K. C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/98eo00346
Subject(s) - glacier , glacial period , milankovitch cycles , geology , physical geography , climate change , climatology , paleontology , geography , oceanography
Scientific interest in glaciers and glaciation dates back at least 200 years, but the knowledge explosion of the past 20 years has been truly breathtaking. Milutin Milankovitch's once unpopular belief that periodic variations of Earth's orbit regulate the timing of the glacial cycle is now embraced as mainstream orthodoxy. The detailed record of Ice Age climate preserved within the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is slowly being decoded and completely upsets the comfortable assumption that extreme climate change necessarily proceeds at a slow pace. Hoary discussion of the processes of glacial erosion and sedimentation has been replaced by serious attempts to observe the mechanical and hydrological processes active beneath mountain glaciers and polar ice streams.