Major climate change 'directly linked to CO2'

Some of the earth's biggest climate change movements have been linked to CO2, it has been revealed.

Professor Timothy Herbert from Brown University and his team of researchers have discovered that temperature changes that began 2.7 million years ago could be the result of atmospheric CO2 and greenhouse gases.

According to the BBC, by analysing mud sediments, they discovered a timeline of temperature changes that could explain some of the earth's momentous events, such as the Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere.

"The timing and the amplitude of temperature changes [in the Northern Hemisphere] are reproduced in the tropical temperatures. The patterns are incredibly similar," Mr Herbert told BBC News.

Palaeoclimate scientist from Cardiff University Dr Carrie Lear confirmed that CO2 has the potential to set off additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Earlier this month, the New Scientist reported that a study conducted by professor Paul Kench of Auckland University and Dr Arthur Webb showed tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean had grown over the last 60 years as a direct consequence of climate change.

Posted by Joseph Hutton