Earth could warm up fast

Recent studies of some of nature’s environmental “records” show that global warming can penetrate deep into the ocean faster than scientists have realized. In fact, some such penetration may have already begun.

The record keepers are foraminifera – “forams” for short – creatures so tiny that several could sit together on a pinhead. The mineral composition of their shells reflects the environmental conditions under which they grow. Flavia Nunes and Richard Norris at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., reported earlier this month in Nature that the foram record includes a global warming event that provides a warning for our own times. Although it occurred 55 million years ago, they consider it a good analogue for studying the causes and consequences of our own global warming.

Christian Science Monitor