The ice sheets of Greenland are melting at an alarming rate. This causes large amounts of freshwater to flow into the North Atlantic, thereby slowing the Gulf Stream. Researchers fear that this will have noticeable effects on the climate worldwide. Densely populated tropical areas that depend on monsoon rains for their freshwater supply are particularly at risk. In order to make reliable predictions for future climate change, climate researchers are looking far back into the past. An international team led by Jasper Wassenburg of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has now reconstructed how the Indian summer monsoon responded to meltwater pulses into the North Atlantic at the end of the penultimate cold period. In this way, they are able to better understand the global consequences of ongoing anthropogenic climate change.
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Source: Phys.org