Researchers have used advanced geochronology techniques such as cosmogenic and luminescence dating to more accurately determine the age of their frozen samples.
The results give scientists a clearer picture of how to reconstruct glacial response to climate change from as far back as when the glaciers were first formed many hundreds of thousands of years ago in the Quaternary Period, a geologic time period that includes the ice ages and extends to present day.
In essence, without knowing what glaciers were doing in the past, Lewis Owen, head of UC's Department of Geology, said computer models of global climate change can't be accurately tested.
He said that their studies are providing a framework for understanding past glaciation to implicate future changes, asserting that they want to be able to manage mountain areas and sustain them so future generations can live and work and play up there.
The research paper has been published in the Quaternary Science Reviews.