Images Dated 25th January 2006

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Formula One Testing
Barcelona, Spain
23-27 January 2006.
David Coulthard, Red Bull Racing Cosworth RB1. Action.
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Photographic
Ref: Digital Image Only

Earth at time of Pangea

Future Earth. Computer artwork of the position of Earth's continents around 250 million years in the future. A new supercontinent, Pangea Ultima, has formed. The landlocked sea at centre used to be the Indian Ocean. Surrounding it are what used to be Asia (upper right and centre right), South America (lower left), and Africa (upper left). Europe is at top centre. North America is at far left. The Atlantic Ocean no longer exists. The southern tip of South America has joined with South-East Asia, above an island continent formed from Australia and Antarctica. The continents are slowly moved over the surface of the Earth by currents in the fluid mantle below the crust. Many continents have formed and broken up during the 4.5-billion-year history of the Earth

© CHRISTIAN DARKIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Earth after global warming

Earth after global warming. Computer artwork of a future Earth where the ice-caps have melted due to global warming. Greenland (green, upper left) has lost its ice-cap, and the Arctic Ocean is free of sea ice. Although global warming can be part of a natural cycle, many scientists believe that human activities have contributed to the observed global warming. Industrial pollution has increased levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. This traps the Sun's heat in the atmosphere, preventing it from being radiated back out from the ground into space. A rise in the average temperatures by a few degrees Celsius could melt the ice caps in a few hundred years, causing large rises in sea levels, plus more storms (hurricane, lower left) and increased desertification (Sahara, lower right)

© CHRISTIAN DARKIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY