Climate through the Ages - Long-Term Temperature Record

• throughout much of earth's history - global climate was 8°C-15°C warmer than todays climate
  • polar regions ice free
• warm climate was periodically interrupted by periods of glaciation
  • 700 million years ago (mya)
  • 300 mya
  • more recently, the Pleistocene epoch, or simply the Ice Age occurred 2 mya
• More recently, North American glaciers reached maximum thickness 18,000-22,000 years ago -->
• Land connecting Asia and N. America along the Bering Sea was exposed since a great deal of the water was locked up in glaciers