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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Dinosaurs suffered climate change too

2006-10-03

Dinosaurs had to cope with dramatic swings in the climate around 120 million years ago, with ocean surface temperatures changing by as much as 6 °C. The finding suggests that natural climate variations are much more complex than previously thought.

Simon Brassell from Indiana University, Bloomington, and colleagues examined telltale carbon compounds in fossilised bacteria. The proportion of these compounds varies with water temperature, and bacteria from different rock layers revealed that the ocean surface temperature went from around 30 °C to 36 °C in the space of 10,000 years (Geology, vol 34, p 833). "The changes appear step-like, as if the climate is switching from one mode to another," Brassell says.

Posted by:Bright Pebbles in Blairistan

#12 Does anyone remember the Gary Larson cartoon that explained why the dinosaurs died out? And then there was the Peter Davison Doctor Who serial, Earthshock.

Posted by: Eric Jablow 2006-10-03 22:59

#11 120 million years ago places the event in the lower Cretaceous nearly sixty million years before they died out. There was no major mass extinction at that time.

Posted by: Nick 2006-10-03 16:06

#10 "natural climate variations are much more complex than previously thought"

That alone deserves a "Master of the F*cking Obvious" graphic.

No matter how complex you think the earth is, you're wrong - it's moreso.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-10-03 15:26

#9 Perhaps it was the methane emissions from Brontesauri.

Al

Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-10-03 15:03

#8 SteveS,

The problem is that the methods used to compute climate are likely to create inherant randomness.

i.e. You would have to simulate EVERYTHING with 100% perfect accuracy. Even if you could do that it would run slower than the universe so would be pointless.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-10-03 13:32

#7 I'm not sure it's a question of inherent randomness so much as we simply do not understand enough about the processes involved in a complex system. Examples of our recently acquired understanding are the fact that the solar constant isn't really constant and the large methane contributions from natural sources like termites and cows. Bottom line: climate change is a complex chaotic process we are only beginning to understand. Until we get a grip on the science, betting the farm on ideas like the Kyoto Treaty is a complete crapshoot.

Posted by: SteveS 2006-10-03 13:07

#6 "The finding suggests that natural climate variations are much more complex than previously thought."

I posted this article because I think it's yet more proof of Stephen Wolframs theories ( http://www.wolframscience.com/thebook.html ) about what is called INHERANT RANDOMNESS which basically destroy any chance that computational climate change models will ever be useful.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-10-03 10:24

#5 I blame Bush!

Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-10-03 10:11

#4 Heck, tw, it's even before MINE. ;-)

Posted by: lotp 2006-10-03 09:59

#3 Oh, for goodness sake. The final age of the dinosaurs was much cooler and dryer than the ones before, and I think that's when the grasses and flowers appeared... this is not news. For that matter, I'm under the impression that the age of lizards was much drier before the dinosaurs came along, but that's a bit before my time.

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-10-03 09:24

#2 You've stumbled upon the secret to dinosaur extinction. They ground up each other to fill gas tanks until none was left.

Posted by: ed 2006-10-03 09:14

#1 Must be why the dinosaurs died out - all caused by their SUVs powered by fossil fuels (but THEIR fossil fuel must not have come from dinosaurs.)

Posted by: Glenmore 2006-10-03 08:45

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