In 2004, Hollywood made paleoclimatology — the study of Earth’s ancient climate — pop-culture famous with scientist Jack Hall, who analyzes the Antarctic past only to discover an imminent Ice Age in The Day After Tomorrow. But this kind of work isn’t a Hollywood invention. Paleoclimatology can help us understand the consequences of present and future climate change. New research on Greenland’s ice sheet shows just how far into the future we can peer — and it isn’t a rosy picture.
