BBC Earth
Image: tauntingpanda
In the late 1980s, as the world’s governments were waking up to the problem of climate change, the mud at the bottom of the ocean near Antarctica revealed a surprise. Earth had lived through rapid global warming before.
About 55 million years ago global temperatures spiked. Then, as now, sea levels rose, the oceans became more acidic, and species disappeared forever.
Little wonder, then, that researchers view this ancient event – known as the “Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum” or PETM – as a potential goldmine of useful information for understanding modern climate change.
We now know that the PETM was one of the most rapid and dramatic instances of climate change in Earth’s history. Its causes are still up for debate, but there seem to be eerie parallels with the causes of modern climate change. What is absolutely clear is that the PETM’s effects were far-reaching. It may have altered the course of life on Earth. Read more on the BBC Earth website…
