Lonnie G. Thompson, a scientist who has been studying glacial core samples for 23 years, explained that humans today may not have the luxury of slowly adapting to climate changes as they did 5,200 years ago. Thompson says the warming of the planet will potentially put many of the people on Earth at risk, as he predicts sea levels will rise and the magnitude of severe storms will worsen.
Thompson's research indicates that the warming he has studied in the high mountain tropics of the South American Andes and the Asian Himalayas is "unprecedented for at least two millennia," an estimate that overshadows recent conclusions by Penn State researchers that indicated a smaller climate trend.
Caspar Amman, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, calls Thompson's research "striking," and says, "Something is definitely different towards the end of the 20th century." According to Thompson, the "difference" is that Earth's climate system "has exceeded a critical threshold," which she says will affect the planet "in the near future."
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