The ‘Deep-sea 973 Project’ team, headed by academician Wang Pinxian of National Key Lab of Marine Geology, proposed the ‘Engine Hypothesis’ for global climate evolvement. It says that the warm pool area of West Pacific near the Strait of Malacca is the ‘engine’ for the changes in temperature. Researchers made test of the carbon element of foraminifer and provide evidence for this hypothesis.

Traditional theory thinks that the high-latitude area of North Atlantic is the ‘switch’ of global climate. But recent evidence discovers that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changes before icecap, tropic area before arctic area.

To find out more causes for climate changes, the research team headed by Wang Pinxian directed their attention to the deep-sea record. Researchers explored seabed mud in South Sea of 30 million years’ history and made study of the foraminifer in it, discovering that the regular changes of the carbon isotopes during the long cycle of 400,000 to 50,000 years suit to the data of the changes of icecap. The result is further validated by data got in Mediterranean area.

Therefore, the team proposes the ‘Double Drive’ hypothesis. That is while high-latitude area of North Atlantic as ‘switch ’influences global climate, the warm pool area of West Pacific near the Strait of Malacca is an indispensable ‘engine’.

Wang points out that evidence has proved that tropical area is playing an active role in global climate evolvement, rather than respond to icecap changes passively. Human beings should have an all-round knowledge of the mechanism of climate changes, to find out the rules of global climate changes and predict the time of the next glacier epoch.