“Unearthed Secrets: What a 90-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Rainforest Reveals About Earth’s Lost Climate”
“Even during months of darkness, swampy temperate rainforests were able to grow close to the South Pole, revealing an even warmer climate than we expected.”
Alfred Wegener InstituteThis map shows the exact drill site the samples were taken from, as well as the formation of continents during the Cretaceous Period.
The discovery indicates that Antarctica wasn’t always covered in ice caps. Instead, the region was warm, covered in flora, and essentially your typical, moist rainforest. In terms of climate studies, sediment cores are exceptional.
They’re practically time capsules to assess average temperatures, rainfall, and vegetation.
“To get a better idea of what the climate was like in this warmest phase of the Cretaceous, we first assessed the climatic conditions under which the plants’ modern descendants live,” said Klages.
According to the research, the average daytime temperature was 53 degrees Fahrenheit. That might not seem hot and humid, but contrasted with current daytime temperatures sitting between negative 76 degrees and 14 degrees Fahrenheit, the difference is stark.
River and swamp temperatures, meanwhile, hovered around 68 degrees, while the region’s summer temperatures were estimated to have been around 66 degrees.
Researchers believe precipitation totaled around 97 inches per year — roughly equivalent to yearly rainfall in Wales today.
Alfred Wegener InstituteThe Alfred Wegener Institute specializes in polar research like that of Klages’ and van der Flierdt’s. Pictured here is its research vessel the Polarstern (or polar star).
Though the researchers were delighted with their discovery, they still had to account for Antarctica’s four-month polar night. How did Antarctica sustain these swampy conditions across four sunless months?
