Putnam’s Mongolian Altai expedition featured in Pacific Standard

Pacific Standard reported on a recent research expedition by Aaron Putnam, assistant professor with the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. Putnam traveled to Mongolia to develop a chronology of glacial retreat, taking samples from granite boulders that were once suspended in ice in the Altai Mountains, according to the article. Back at UMaine, Putnam will measure the accumulated cosmogenic radiation on the surface of granite boulders scattered in the area to derive a date for the end of the ice age. A clear chronology of glacial recession can help researchers improve scientific models that predict how anthropogenic climate change will affect future societies, the article states.