"The solidified oil is an indirect record, or proxy, of the past that scientists rely on because we don't have a time machine. Researchers trying to understand Earth's climate and ecosystems need to trace rainfall, ice coverage, fire and other factors over thousands or millions of years—far longer than human records."
"The most common proxies, including tree rings, pollen and ice cores containing pockets of ancient air, have already been well studied. To learn something new, researchers have to get creative. So scientists like McClymont look for clever ways to study obscure features of the past, such as her research focus of how the Antarctic environment has changed over tens of thousands of years."
Paleoclimatologist Erin McClymont studies solidified blocks of ancient stomach oil from Antarctic Snow Petrels to understand Earth's climate and ecosystem changes over thousands of years. Since conventional proxies like tree rings, pollen, and ice cores have been extensively studied, researchers must develop creative approaches to extract new information about the past. Snow Petrels regurgitate oil in front of their nests primarily as a predator deterrent, and this oil preserves indirect records of historical environmental conditions. The solidified oil blocks, stored in alarmed freezers to prevent spoilage, serve as an unconventional but valuable proxy for studying Antarctic environmental changes when traditional seafloor sampling methods prove impractical due to sea ice coverage.
#paleoclimatology #climate-proxies #antarctic-research #unconventional-data-sources #environmental-history
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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