Dinosaur Extinction and Climate Change Concerns

Research from Linda Ivany, professor of earth and environmental sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Christopher Junium, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, was featured in multiple outlets, including BBC, Newsweek, Earth.com, SciTechDaily, Tech Explorist, and The Daily Mail. Their research explains how climate change today is impacted by the asteroid strike that caused the mass dinosaur extinction millions of years ago.

In the Daily Mail article, Junium discussed the extinction of the dinosaurs and climate change during that period. He said, “The initial effects of the impact were caused by rock dust, soot and wildfires, but the sulphur aerosols extended the time period over which life would have suffered from extreme cooling, reduced sunlight and acidification of the land surface and oceans. It was this extended duration of cooling that likely played a central role in the severity of the extinction.”