UMaine scientists co-author article about Zealandia Switch for The Conversation- A. Putnam & G. Denton
Aaron Putnam, associate professor, and George Denton, professor, both in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and the Climate Change Institute, collaborated with international scientists to write an article about the Zealandia Switch for The Conversation. Putnam, Denton and their collaborators are researching New Zealand’s climate history, and have postulated a new mechanism that explains a rapid shift at the end of the last ice age called the Zealandia Switch, which challenges a long-held view about why glaciers changed in the recent and distant past. The Zealandia Switch focuses on global ice retreat for prehistoric times, but it may also explain why glaciers are shrinking and retreating today.