“The Earth......Has A Fever......”
Posted on 12/20/2007 7:46:23 PM PST by Lorianne
What started out as a moderate global warm-up about 55 million years ago triggered a massive injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that sent temperatures skyrocketing, a new study says.
The finding suggests that today's temperature rise may just be priming the planet for a carbon belch of epic proportions.
"You've got these feedbacks, these chain reactions of events in the atmosphere-ocean system," said Appy Sluijs, a paleoecologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Sluijs and his colleagues found evidence for the chain reaction in two sections of sediment that accumulated on an ocean floor in what is now New Jersey.
The abundance and distribution of marine algae indicate the environment started to change and the ocean surface began to warm several thousand years before the large temperature spike.
The finding implies that the earlier warming triggered the injection of greenhouse gases visible in the geological record around 55 million years ago.
"That's actually the first time we can see that in such a clear fashion," Sluijs said.
The study appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Nature.
"Swampy" Arctic
Scientists have long studied the ancient temperature spike, called the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum or PETM, for clues to what could happen as a result of today's global warming.
Research shows that during the PETM, global temperature shot up at least 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), and swamp forests with redwoods and broad-leaved trees filled the Arctic.
A key unanswered question is what—if anything—triggered the substantial warming, noted Scott Wing, a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the new research.
More hot air from The Goracle and his minions.
You know, due to all those prehistoric SUVs and coal-fired power plants, right?
It’s gotta be true. I saw the 55 million year old Chevy at the Smithsonian when I was a 4th grader in 1966.
Yep, all it would take is 9 deg F of extra heat, and the arctic will look like Florida!
When your winters go from -30 deg F to -21 deg F, why the swamps just multiply!
Is ANYONE stupid enough to believe this stuff?
“The Earth......Has A Fever......”
These climate schemers aren't dumb. That's their cue to jam snouts in the trough for the next 1000 years or so.
New Jersey, ancient swamp...LMAO
Anyhoo....am I missing something here? Doesn’t it say the temps rose, THEN released gas....smirk...
Yet today they contend just the opposite....there’s unprecedented gas, which is supposed to cause the temp to rise...LOL
Algore the source of the gas no doubt....
Who knew?
So, natural warming cycles precede greenhouse gas concentration increases. Isn’t that exactly the opposite of the global warming theory?
“The Earth......Has A Fever......”
Let’s find the Earth’s anus (maybe near Mecca?) and send in a probe to get an accurate reading.
SUVs driven by dinosaurs?
If it's near Mecca, then an enema might be more the order of the day than a temperature probe.
And notice that the "Carbon Belch" came *after* the temperature rise, rather than being caused by it.
This is why I canceled my subscription to the National Geographic a few years ago after reading it for almost all of my life. The transformation of the Geographic Society and it’s magazine into an activist political tool became too much to bear. All those many years of the Geographic magazine in slip cases thrown in the trash... :-(
Wouldn’t the axis of the earth put the arctic south many moons ago?
What a dumb, tautological headline. How about “Ancient Thunderstorm Caused Huge Spike in Wetness” or “Faster Engine Speed Resulted in Increased RPM”?
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