The Arctic used to be a warm region on Earth.

The Arctic was unusually warm in ancient times, when the Earth's atmosphere contained less carbon dioxide than it does today.

This is the result of research by a group of Russian and American scientists from the University of Massachusetts, USA, published in a recent issue of the prestigious American journal "Science".

Illustrative image. (Source: Getty)

According to scientists, the northern regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East, including the Chukotka region, had a temperate climate and were not covered by permafrost between 3.6 and 2.2 million years ago, although the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was relatively low compared to today.

This area was covered by coniferous forests that existed from 3.6 to 2.2 million years ago.

To reach this conclusion, scientist Julie Brigham-Grette and her colleagues undertook an expedition to northeastern Russia in 2009 to study the composition of sediments at the bottom of Lake Elgygytgyn in Chukotka.

Then, in July 2012, they also used sediments from the bottom of this lake to continue their research on the Arctic climate over the previous 2.8 million years. Lake Elgygytgyn was formed in Chukotka 3.6 million years ago after a meteorite impact.

Russian and American scientists could go even further in their research by "reading" the story of Chukotka's cool, temperate climate. They believe the Arctic was ice-free for 900,000 years, after Lake Elgygytgyn formed.

Subsequently, natural conditions deteriorated, leading to the conversion of forests into tundra and the appearance of frost. These results are far different from predictions of paleoclimatological reconstruction.

This suggests that the impact of current climate change may have been underestimated.

According to (VNA) - VT