How a well-known trek in the Rockies led to important climate change research - NBC Right Now
How a well-known trek in the Rockies led to important climate change research
For decades, mountaineers have trekked to Abbot Pass, just beyond Lake Louise. Many would stop for a rest at the stone hut along the route, logging their experiences in the hut's registers. Now, researchers have used those entries to track changes in the surrounding mountains.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.