Maine Monitor speaks to Mayewski about studying abrupt climate change with ice cores
The Maine Monitor interviewed Paul Mayewski, professor and director of the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, about ice core research and abrupt climate change. Using Arctic ice cores, Mayewski and other researchers recorded shockingly rapid temperature changes that occurred 11,500 years ago. They were also able to observe that from 2007-2012, sea surface and air temperatures rose 6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. “We were able to monitor [instances of] abrupt climate change in the past, but now we actually have an example,” Mayewski said. The relatively sudden shift in the Arctic climate could signal an impending tipping point where, in Mayewski’s words, “you push a system to a dramatic and potentially irreversible change.” Climate tipping points have at times ended civilizations, Mayewski said, but that’s not a given.