During the most recent ice age, much of North America disappeared beneath ice sheets several kilometres thick. These frozen giants covered most of present-day Canada and parts of the northern United States, while smaller ones spread across northern Europe.

They dominated the landscape for thousands of years, storing so much water that global sea levels fell dramatically.

Scientists have long known these enormous ice sheets transformed the climate of the northern hemisphere. They shifted North Atlantic storms southward and influenced rainfall across Europe.

But what if these mountains of ice influenced climate much farther away than anyone realised? Could they have altered climate on the other side of the world?

In our new study, published in Climate of the Past, we show they could, despite the ice never reaching Australia. The discovery reveals just how interconnected Earth’s climate really is. It also reminds us that understanding Australia’s past and future climate requires looking far beyond our shores.

A world that looked different

Our study focuses on a climate about 49,000 years ago during the last ice age when the world looked very different from today.

The giant ice sheets in North America were not yet........

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