Sound of the Millenium: 1000 Years of Climate Change

SOUND OF THE MILLENNIUM- The Last 100 Years of Climate Change

Program #2046

SOUND OF THE MILLENNIUM- The Last 100 Years of Climate Change

ambience: Sound of climate change

We’re listening to the sounds of climate change in the past millennium, and if you think it sounds like its voice is getting higher, you’re right. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

Let’s say you were able to take the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere every year for the past thousand years, and then you assigned a different musical note to represent each year’s number. The higher the temperature, the higher the tone. Well this is what it would sound like. It turns out that lately, the voice of the earth’s climate is moving into the soprano range.

Raymond Bradley is Head of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. With the help of ancient ice core samples from the polar regions, he and other scientists have been able to gather data on the earth’s atmosphere over thousands of years, including its temperature. He tells us that for most of the millennium, temperatures have steadily fallen. But over the last 100 years, temperatures have dramatically risen.

“The real increase began about the turn of the century about 1900 and then there were a couple of periods when temperatures rose quite rapidly in the 19 teens and twenties. For example, 1998 we estimate was perhaps the warmest for a thousand years. And several years in the 1990’s have been in the top few percent of all the years in the last thousand years and that, that sequence, that persistence is what really grabs your attention.”

According to some models, at the current rate, temperatures can be expected to rise as much as three to five degrees over the next century. Now that may not sound like much, but if historical evidence is right, that’s the most dramatic climate change that the Earth has experienced in ten thousand years. We’ll find out why in our next program. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science. With additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.

 

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Sound of the Millenium: 1000 Years of Climate Change

By assigning musical notes to history of the earth's climate, we can hear the earth's voice moving into the soprano range.
Air Date:01/03/2000
Scientist:
Transcript:

SOUND OF THE MILLENNIUM- The Last 100 Years of Climate Change

Program #2046

SOUND OF THE MILLENNIUM- The Last 100 Years of Climate Change

ambience: Sound of climate change

We're listening to the sounds of climate change in the past millennium, and if you think it sounds like its voice is getting higher, you're right. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

Let's say you were able to take the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere every year for the past thousand years, and then you assigned a different musical note to represent each year's number. The higher the temperature, the higher the tone. Well this is what it would sound like. It turns out that lately, the voice of the earth's climate is moving into the soprano range.

Raymond Bradley is Head of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. With the help of ancient ice core samples from the polar regions, he and other scientists have been able to gather data on the earth's atmosphere over thousands of years, including its temperature. He tells us that for most of the millennium, temperatures have steadily fallen. But over the last 100 years, temperatures have dramatically risen.

"The real increase began about the turn of the century about 1900 and then there were a couple of periods when temperatures rose quite rapidly in the 19 teens and twenties. For example, 1998 we estimate was perhaps the warmest for a thousand years. And several years in the 1990's have been in the top few percent of all the years in the last thousand years and that, that sequence, that persistence is what really grabs your attention."

According to some models, at the current rate, temperatures can be expected to rise as much as three to five degrees over the next century. Now that may not sound like much, but if historical evidence is right, that's the most dramatic climate change that the Earth has experienced in ten thousand years. We'll find out why in our next program. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science. With additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.

 

Back to the Pulse of the Planet home page.