New science feature on the Education and Outreach pages of the
Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences (PARCS) website:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/parcs/educationoutreach.html
The Science Management Office of PARCS (Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences)
is pleased to announce the debut of a new science feature on the Education
and Outreach pages of the PARCS website:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/parcs/educationoutreach.html
The new Science Highlight features the work of Steve Forman, David Lubinski,
and Richard Weihe, documenting late Holocene climate change in Franz Josef
Land, Russia. These researchers utilized radiocarbon analysis of reindeer
remains recovered from several islands in the archipelago to assess when the
reindeer last lived here, far north of their modern range. The analysis
determined that reindeer occupied Franz Josef Land from at least 6400 years
ago until 1300 years ago, suggesting that summer temperatures during this
period must have been warmer than today to allow enough forage on these
currently barren islands for reindeer to have survived. It is possible that
recent warming in the arctic may allow reindeer to immigrate northward and
reoccupy Franz Josef Land and similar arctic areas in the future.
The Science Management Office will be adding new features to the PARCS
website every few months, so please check back often.
For more information, please contact:
Larry Coats
PARCS Science Management Officer
Larry.Coats [at] nau.edu