A topography of the surveyed section of the Gamburtsev Mountains, buried several kilometres below the ice. Dark red represents the highest elevations and blue the lowest.
Credit: Nature/Polar Research Institute of China/University of Edinburgh
The first of the big chills came at the start of what is called the Oligocene period, around 34 million years ago, when glaciers first started to form in Antarctica.
The Gamburtsev Mountains, because of their high altitude, were probably one of the places where glaciation first began, the scientists believe. At the time, there would have been a mean summer temperature of 3ºC, they estimate.
The second cooling spurt came some 14 million years ago, characterised by a plunge in temperatures of 6ºC to 7ºC, reaching up to 8ºC in the Transantarctic Mountains, the spine that divides East from West Antarctica.
Natural Rhythm
You are pushing the Global Warming scare a bit too hard I think.
They have to
Haven't you noticed how global warming has become the social terror of the 21st century ?
At one time, it was communism, at another it was technology, now people need to be constantly reminded that their very existence will lead to destruction.
The message is getting all the more intense - look at most adverts with the tree hugger - hippie /1960's image and message being "buy our crap or all will die".