Our planet plunged into one of the most dramatic climate states in its long history, approximately 720–635 million years ago. During a period geologists call Snowball Earth, ice sheets crept from the poles all the way to the tropics, covering the oceans and continents in a nearly global freeze.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/41716172

“The goal of this research was really just to understand where in the world this is happening,” said Elise Mazur, a researcher with the Land and Carbon Lab at the World Resources Institute and one of the report’s authors. “We know where deforestation is occurring. But we were less sure about where non-forest ecosystems are being lost.”

https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2521183123

Researchers believe shifting wind systems may help explain the mystery. Dr. Harald Hofmann, a co-author from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), says regional wind patterns likely influenced where rainfall ultimately ended up.

"Prior research shows Minjerribah also experienced heavy rainfall events at this time, but, because of south-east trade winds that were occurring at the time, rainfall from the south only fed into lakes on Minjerribah, not those on K'gari," he says.

Antarctica’s Hektoria Glacier stunned scientists by retreating eight kilometers in just two months, with nearly half of it collapsing in record time. The rapid breakup was driven by a flat, underwater bedrock surface that allowed the glacier to suddenly float and fracture from below. Satellite and seismic data captured the dramatic chain reaction in near real time. The findings raise concerns that much larger glaciers could one day collapse just as quickly.