'Arctic hippo' hints at a once-balmy North Pole

New Scientist ^ | April 25, 2007

[KarlInOhio]

Ummmm... Continental Drift?...

That was my first reaction too, but the article says: "When Svalbard was hot, 55 million years ago, the islands were also closer to the North Pole."

[Wiseghy]

Funny, how you rarely hear much about this very hot period in earth history.

Climate is historically very unstable on this planet. From a geological standpoint, trying to “control climate” with our puny human efforts is absurd.

[Secret Agent Man]

Old News. People have known for 100 years the arctic/antarctic were tropical. They found palm trees under 20 ft clear sheets of ice.

[aruanan]

Well it's pretty obvious to me....if the hippos were burning coal, there's little doubt in my mind that they had global warming back then, too.

Maybe they mined the coal for the armored bears to use in their forges.

[goldstategop]

Gee... animals seemed to have thrived. And we have liberals hysterical over a warmer climate!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[oldcomputerguy]

The poor polar bears, it must have been tough on them.

[litehaus]

hippopotamus-like creature ................................You get the GOLD STAR for that one!

[RetSignman]

( crickets )

[AmusedBystander]

I wonder what the carbon footprint of a Krakatoa was (in addition to the obvious noise ordinance violation)?

I say we outlaw all future volcanic explosions.

[verum ago]

Ummmm... Continental Drift?...

best I can tell going over maps, animations of continental positions, and texts, it appears Scandinavia was in nearly (maybe as little as ±5 to 10° latitude, but I'm not confident in that estimate at all) the same position then it was today, but rotated such that's long axis was in a roughly E-W direction, and squashed in closer to the continent. I'm going to see if I can't find some better information.
Also, sniffing around online it appears that Hippopotami were in fairly widespread in Europe as recently as less than 2MYA and as at least as far north as the british Isles; the ones in Africa also seem to do fine in zoos in colder climates as well.

[redpoll]

Very old news. The event 55 million years ago was known as the Eocene Thermal Maximum, which was one of the warmest spells in Earth’s recent geological history. While it is true that Alaska and Svalbard were much closer to the north pole, it’s also true that there was ocean between North and South America and a huge body of warm shallow water between Africa and Eurasia. All of that warm water circulating about might have led to the conditions at the thermal maximum. It’s also true that the thermal maximum is considered a minor extinction event. It’s all fascinating stuff.

What it tells me is that the Earth’s climate has some mighty powerful swings sometimes without any human impact whatsoever.

[carumba]

They grew until a giant ice cube whacked into earth.

[3niner]

More hype from the causally challenged. High temperatures cause high CO2 levels, not the other way around.

[Red Badger]

....and SHE lives in Florida, too!..........coincidence? I think not!........

[JustDoItAlways]

55 million years ago, during the Eocene Thermal Maximum, there were no continents over the poles. Norway was probably close to where it is now but ...

Antarctica moved over the south pole in the next 10 million years (and promptly froze over) and Greenland moved closer to the north pole about 30 million years later (and promptly froze over.)

The continental positions have a huge impact on the amount of sunlight absorbed by the Earth. Think of the sunlight that is reflected by the glaciers on Antarctica and Greenland today. Move those two landmasses, 200 miles away the poles and there is no glaciers there anymore. The Earth would be about 3 degrees warmer and we would be approaching the conditions of the ETM.