Atmospheric Science, the weather, and global warming

Alex · 09-08-2006, 05:59 PM

Because atmospheric gasses get trapped in ice at the poles (well anywhere really, but at the poles the ice doesn't melt so much). So if you know how old the ice is, there are complicated tests you can do to get a sense of atmospheric composition at the time.

This is how we can get gas compositions for hundreds of thousands of years. There is some really old ice laying about. For recent centuries there are some other methods as well.

09-08-2006, 05:59 PM	#32
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Because atmospheric gasses get trapped in ice at the poles (well anywhere really, but at the poles the ice doesn't melt so much). So if you know how old the ice is, there are complicated tests you can do to get a sense of atmospheric composition at the time. This is how we can get gas compositions for hundreds of thousands of years. There is some really old ice laying about. For recent centuries there are some other methods as well.
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