A Yale-led research team has proposed that large asteroid impacts could have abruptly triggered “Snowball” Earth periods, where the planet was encased in ice, resolving a long-standing debate about these dramatic climate shifts. Their study, using sophisticated climate models, suggests that under certain cold climate conditions, an asteroid strike could tip Earth into a global glaciation state within a decade. Credit: AI-generated image, created and edited by Michael S. Helfenbein
Recent research argues that asteroid impacts may have triggered widespread ice ages in Earth’s ancient history.
A Yale-led research team has picked a side in the “Snowball Earth” debate over the possible cause of planet-wide deep freeze events that occurred in the distant past.
According to a new study, these so-called “Snowball” Earth periods, in which the planet’s surface was covered in ice for thousands or even millions of years, could have been triggered abruptly by large asteroids that slammed into the Earth.
The findings, detailed in the journal Science Advances, may answer a question that has stumped scientists for decades about some of the most dramatic known climate shifts in Earth’s history. In addition to Yale, the study included researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Vienna.
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