Posted on 06/11/2018 4:13:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Although researchers have long known that the last two interglacial periods experienced warming in the Arctic... Just beyond the northwest edge of the vast Greenland Ice Sheet, Northwestern University researchers have discovered lake mud that beat tough odds by surviving the last ice age. The mud, and remains of common flies nestled within it, record two interglacial periods in northwest Greenland. Although researchers have long known these two periods -- the early Holocene and Last Interglacial -- experienced warming in the Arctic due to changes in Earth's orbit, the mix of fly species preserved from these times shows that Greenland was even warmer than previously thought... Greenland's ice sheet, which covers 80 percent of the Arctic country and holds enough ice to equal 20 feet of global sea level... hovers in the 30s and low 40s Fahrenheit and weathers snowstorms in summer. But average summer temperatures in the early Holocene (8,000 to 11,000 years ago) and Last Interglacial (116,000 to 130,000 years ago) climbed well into the 50s. During the Last Interglacial, global sea levels increased by 15 to 30 feet, largely due to thinning of Greenland and Antarctica's ice sheets. But now Northwestern's team believes northern Greenland's ice sheet experienced stronger warming than previously thought, which could mean that Greenland is more responsible for that sea-level rise... Discovering this mix of insects means northwest Greenland's average July during the last two interglacial periods most likely climbed above 50 degrees and possibly into the high 50s during the Last Interglacial. This confirms controversial geological records constructed from ice cores taken nearby, which also indicated significant warming during these time periods.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Full title, "Ancient Greenland was much warmer than previously thought: New knowledge helps researchers understand how Greenland's ice sheet responds to warming".
Proof of globull warming.
It shows that the earth warmed more than the computer simulations thought, without human intervention.
First time I have heard the Eemian referred to as the “Last Interglacial”. Does anyone know whether the latter is standard terminology? Gotta get the lingo right.
Proof of globull warming.
—
So is the claim that if the ice melted sea level world wide would rise 20 feet. The truth is that is all the ice on Earth (including that in your fridge) melted, the sea level rise would be 40 feet.
Why do you think it’s call ‘Greenland’? It used to be green.
Moral of the story: never trust a Red.
But what do I know? I still think the hockey stick was a fraud. (So sue me, Mickey Mann.)
Precisely why it was named Greenland. There was no ice coverage.
There was warmth “due to changes in the Earth’s orbit.”
According to some recent data from space our orbit is now changing as well.
And the other planets are also warming, and not an SUV or fossil fueled power plant in sight.
Back home in the boondocks we have a quaint folk saying: You can always tell an enviromental wacko, but you can’t tell him much.
Thanks for the post!
SunkenCiv
As Rush says, run the numbers.
Someone help me with the math.
the Greenland ice sheet is 660,000 sq mi
The earth’s oceans are 139,700,000 sq mi
How thick would the Greenland ice cap have to be to melt and raise sea levels 30 feet? (the average thickness is 6,6009,800 ft)
It doesn’t add up.
...sometime between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, much of Greenland was especially green and covered in a boreal forest that was home to alder, spruce and pine trees, as well as insects such as butterflies and beetles.
Ancient Greenland was... covered in conifer forest and, like southern Sweden today, had a relatively mild climate. Eske Willerslev, a professor at Copenhagen University, has analysed the world's oldest DNA, preserved under the kilometre-thick icecap. The DNA is likely close to half a million years old, and the research is painting a picture which is overturning all previous assumptions about biological life and the climate in Greenland... large parts of Greenland were covered by forest. This was discovered by analysing fossil DNA which had been preserved under the kilometre-thick icecap. The DNA-traces are likely close to 450,000 years old, and that means that Greenland was also covered in a large ice sheet 125,000 years ago during the earth's last warm period, Eem. This was while the climate was 5 degrees warmer than the interglacial period we currently live in... Several projects... have been drilling through the icecap on Greenland, and collected complete columns of ice all the way from the top to the bottom. The ice has annual layers and is a frozen archive of the world's climate... Eske Willerslev, who is the world's leading expert in extracting DNA from organisms buried in permafrost.... "We have found grain, pine, yew and alder. These correspond to the landscapes we find in Eastern Canada and in the Swedish forests today. The trees provide a backdrop from which we can also ascertain the climate since each species has its own temperature requirements. The yew trees reveal that the temperature during the winter could not have been lower than minus 17 degrees Celsius, and the presence of other trees shows that summer temperatures were at least 10 degrees"... Furthermore Willerslev found genetic traces of insects such as butterflies, moths, flies and beetles... He analysed the insects' mitochondria, which are special genomes that change with time and like a clock can be used to date the DNA. He also analysed their amino acids which also change over time. Both datings showed that the insects were at least 450,000 years old... radioactive dating. "We can fix when the ice was last in contact with the atmosphere," says Jørgen Peder Steffensen... the special isotopes, Beryllium-10 and Chlorine-36 both have a particular half-life of radioactive decay... The relation between them can date when the ice and dust were buried and no longer came in contact with the atmosphere. The dating of dust particles also showed that it has been at least 450,000 years ago... That signifies that there was ice there during the Eemian interglacial period 125,000 years ago. It means that although we are now confronted with global warming, the whole ice sheet will not melt and bring about the tremendous sea-level rises...
The ice core showed the Northern Hemisphere briefly emerged from the last ice age some 14,700 years ago with a 22-degree-Fahrenheit spike in just 50 years, then plunged back into icy conditions before abruptly warming again about 11,700 years ago.
from: http://maptd.com/what-would-greenland-look-like-without-the-icecap/
“The Greenland ice sheet covers 80% of the island with a thickness of generally more than 2 km. If the entire ice cap melted it would cause a global rise in sea levels of 7.2 metres, dramatically affecting coastal regions around the world, but what would the island of Greenland itself look like ?”
And in answer to the last question - more like an archipelego than an island (picture at the link).
The idea that eric the red tricked the vikings into settling an ice covered island by calling it “green land” is pretty funny. The vikings weren’t stupid; if they arrived and it looked too cold and desolate they would have gotten back into their boats and sailed away. They lived there successfully for a couple hundred years raising cattle and hunting.
It shows no such thing. As 4187% of climate scientists agree, it shows that big oil companies will eventually pipe heat into the past when time machines are invented in a vain attempt to hide their culpability as the Earth burns up like a marshmellow dropped in a campfire. And btw, that 4187% number is so high a consensus that there is no point in examining its veracity. The debate is over. The science is settled. Challenge anything I say with real life details and I will make up an even bigger consensus number that I can shout you down with.
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