The Maunder Minimum, also called the “prolonged sunspot minimum,” was a time from about 1645 to 1715 when sunspots became very rare. During the 28 years between 1672 and 1699, scientists saw fewer than 50 sunspots. This is much lower than the usual 40,000 to 50,000 sunspots observed in modern times over the same length of time.
The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a time when temperatures were cooler in certain areas, especially in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age that covered the entire world. The term “Little Ice Age” was first used in scientific writing by François E.
A Heinrich event is a natural event where large groups of icebergs break away from the Laurentide ice sheet and travel through the Hudson Strait into the North Atlantic. This event was first described by marine geologist Hartmut Heinrich. These events happened during five of the last seven glacial periods over the past 640,000 years.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, usually less than 5 millimeters in size, that are found in the environment. They can be created intentionally, such as microbeads in cosmetics or fibers from clothing, or they can form when larger plastic items break down over time. Microplastics enter natural environments like water, soil, and air through sources such as personal care products, fabric fibers, industrial waste, packaging materials, and everyday items like bottles and bags.
The Mount Erebus disaster happened on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901) crashed into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. All 237 passengers and 20 crew members on the flight died. Air New Zealand had been offering scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977.
Thwaites Glacier is a very large and wide glacier in Antarctica, located east of Mount Murphy on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land. It was first seen by researchers in 1940, mapped between 1959 and 1966, and officially named in 1967 after Fredrik T. Thwaites, an American glaciologist.
Iceberg B-46 is a large piece of ice that separated from Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica in October 2018. At its largest size, it measured 225 kilometers across. Scientists first spotted the iceberg using the Landsat 8 satellite, and later took pictures of it with a NASA DC-8 plane as part of the IceBridge mission.
Lake Vostok (Russian: озеро Восток, romanized: ozero Vostok) is the largest of Antarctica’s 675 known subglacial lakes and the 16th largest lake in the world by area. It is located at the southern Pole of Cold, beneath Russia’s Vostok Station, under the surface of the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is 3,488 meters (11,444 feet) above mean sea level. The surface of this freshwater lake is approximately 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the ice, placing it at about 500 meters (1,600 feet) below sea level.
Australian megafauna were large animals that lived in Australia during the Pleistocene period. Many of these animals disappeared during the later part of the Pleistocene as part of a major extinction event that occurred worldwide. Scientists are still discussing whether human activity or changes in climate were the main reasons for their extinction.
Madjedbebe, which was previously called Malakunanja II, is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land, located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It may be the oldest place in Australia where people have lived. The site is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the coast.