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Antarctica Desert Getting Colder
ap ^ | 1/13/02

Posted on 01/13/2002 2:55:14 PM PST by NativeNewYorker

Antarctica's harsh desert valleys -- long considered a bellwether for global climate change -- have grown noticeably cooler since the mid-1980s, scientists report, even while the Earth as a whole is warming.

Air temperatures recorded continuously over a 14-year period ending in 1999 declined by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the polar deserts and across the White Continent, according to prominent researchers from 11 American universities and government laboratories.

The cooler temperatures are triggering a cascade of ecological consequences in the sensitive and barren region known as the Dry Valleys. They include a 10 percent annual decline in tiny soil organisms and a 9 percent annual decline in the biological productivity of a handful of ice-covered freshwater lakes, the study shows.

The report appeared Sunday in an online edition of the journal Nature.

The cooler temperatures defy a trend spanning more than 100 years in which average land surface temperatures have increased worldwide by about 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Nearly all of the warmest years in the modern climate record have occurred in the past decade; 1998 was the warmest yet, with 2001 coming in second, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

According to the report, Antarctica is the only one of Earth's seven continents that is cooling. Scientists concede they cannot explain the contradiction.

"This doesn't change the global warming scenario; the planet is still warming," said the study's lead author, limnologist Peter T. Doran of the University of Illinois-Chicago. "But this is an unexpected twist. This shows we don't understand Antarctica as well as we thought."

The Dry Valleys, ringed by jagged mountain peaks and glaciers, cover about 6,000 square miles. The area accounts for less than 2 percent of the continent, but represents nearly all the open terrain in an otherwise white expanse.

It is the driest place on Earth, with 2 inches of annual precipitation accompanied by subzero temperatures and howling winds. It's so bleak that NASA uses the Dry Valleys as a test track for Mars exploration.

Even small environmental changes there raise scientific eyebrows.

"The decline is alarming," said co-author Diana Wall of Colorado State University. The soil biologist studies the effect of climate change on microscopic soil worms that are the largest native life in the Dry Valleys.

These nematodes have rebounded before from environmental setbacks. The question is how long this cooling will continue.

Ice is growing thicker atop lakes, while freshwater flowing off the surrounding glaciers is diminishing and lake levels are dropping.

"These cooling repercussions may have a long term effect," Wall said by e-mail from a scientific outpost on the shores of Lake Hoare in the Dry Valleys. "There is very little diversity here and the life cycles of these invertebrates is very slow."

Some scientists who were not involved in the study complained it was too limited to draw such broad conclusions.

Imre Friedmann, director of the Polar Desert Research Center at Florida State University, said the study excludes the surrounding mountains. Friedmann described them as a "totally different landscape" than the valley floors, but still considered to be within the Dry Valleys region.

"I have noticed a slight warming in the mountains," he said. "And there has been a heavier snow cover that is a result of the warming."

Nor is global warming necessarily a uniform trend.

"Some short term reversals and regional variability should not be a surprise," said Benjamin Preston, a senior research fellow at the Pew Center for Climate Change in Arlington, Va. "And, 14 years is a relatively short period."

Doran, the study's lead author, said previous climate calculations that showed Antarctica was warming had been skewed by temperature data collected on the Antarctic Peninsula. Reaching northward toward South America, conditions on the narrow arm are heavily influenced by surrounding oceans

In the past 50 years, peninsula temperatures have been increasing five times faster than global average temperatures.

"Take away the peninsula temperatures and the vast majority of the continent is cooling," Doran said.

The next step is to determine why Antarctica is cooling. Calmer weather is one possible reason.

Said Doran, "It seems the Dry Valleys have been getting less wind, and you lose the warming effect of the winds coming down off the mountains."

___

On the Net:

Nature: www.nature.com

Dry Valleys: http://huey.colorado.edu/LTER/


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: globalwarminghoax; kyotolist
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To: Ditter
,,, Tiger Woods flew out of here last night after playing the New Zealand Open. That was called off for some hours part way thru because of very heavy rain - that's a five minute drive from my house. This really is both amazing and disappointing for what's meant to be summer.
21 posted on 01/13/2002 4:58:03 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: NativeNewYorker
Antarctica Desert Getting Colder

How can that be???? Has anyone asked Algore about it?

22 posted on 01/13/2002 5:01:52 PM PST by jackbill
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To: shaggy eel
Don't recall that particular mission.

But given the lack of follow-up press, whatever they found couldn't be sold as supporting the Global Warming hoax.

23 posted on 01/13/2002 5:04:04 PM PST by NativeNewYorker
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
WAY cool site!
24 posted on 01/13/2002 5:07:14 PM PST by NativeNewYorker
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
The lower stratospheric data show a significant cooling trend, which is consistent with ozone depletion.

So we can counter global warming by killing the ozone layer?

25 posted on 01/13/2002 5:09:18 PM PST by NativeNewYorker
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To: NativeNewYorker
,,, I have no fixed opinion on global warming because I doubt any data from either side of the debate. It's most probably heavily manipulated and creative. However, the weather just ain't what it used to be. I'm scheduling days off in winter (June/July/August) this year as it's quite possibly going to be better than what we have now. October for us was third wettest on record since 1926 and December 2001 was the cloudiest on record. It's been strange for some years and I don't hold out too much hope for a rapid turnaround.
26 posted on 01/13/2002 5:13:55 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: RightWhale
Actually, global warming seems to be disappearing gradually from the planet.

So what, are again into the nuclear winter now? I wanna be with it and up-to-date with my liberal surroundings.

27 posted on 01/13/2002 5:19:19 PM PST by Revolting cat!
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To: shaggy eel
,,, I think it may have been last year NASA sent a plane down to circle Antarctica for a while to work out the present size and condition of the ozone hole - did you ever hear anything about the findings of that research?

NASA scientists at thhe Goddard Space Flight Center said that the Ozone hole in 2000 was equal in size with the largest on record ozone hole during 1999. The lake of change was attributed to a leveling off of the phenomenon since CFC's have been banned. They expect the ozone hole to start shinking from here on out.

The problem is that prior to the CFC ban those same scientists said that the upper atmospheric clorine and ozone depletion would continue to increase until the year 2050 even if CFC production were totally stopped at the time of the ban.

Now they've interpreted conflicting data as support for their beliefs. What con men these enviro scientists are...

Re: this thread. Since the ozone depletion is a function of temperature, I wonder if the thermal variation in Antarctica isn't the cause of the ozone hole growth observed recently. The timeframes are similar.

28 posted on 01/13/2002 5:41:08 PM PST by UnChained
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To: UnChained; shaggy eel
Sorry. the results were for years 2001 and 2000 rather than 2000 an 1999 like I said.
29 posted on 01/13/2002 5:43:40 PM PST by UnChained
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To: UnChained
,,, thanx for this input. I don't know enough to comment further. What I'd like to know though is do you think this will have any bearing on these El Nino weather patterns at all?
30 posted on 01/13/2002 5:46:23 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: NativeNewYorker
It says that it is cooling in the stratosphere is consistent with ozone depletion, not that ozone depletion causes cooling (although this may be the case). Of course, the next sentence is ...

In addition to the recent cooling [stratosphere or troposphere?], large temporary warming perturbations may be seen in the data due to two major volcanic eruptions: El Chichon in March 1982, and Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991.

31 posted on 01/13/2002 8:05:12 PM PST by KayEyeDoubleDee
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To: Ole Okie
Or they'll just revive the theory that was popular with I was in high school during the 1970's-- the industrialization is blocking out the sun's rays and leading to global cooling, the solution for which is, by some strange coincidence, exactly the same as the solution for global warming:

Turn all industrial regulation over to the enlighted Marxist-Scientists.

32 posted on 01/14/2002 3:10:33 AM PST by Rubber Duckie
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
Hey. If their reasoning can be sloppy, so can mine! :)
33 posted on 01/14/2002 3:22:38 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
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To: Rubber Duckie
Indeed!
34 posted on 01/14/2002 4:34:21 AM PST by American in Israel
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To: RightWhale
America, of course, withdrew from global warming a year ago.

That explains it, of course. It getting colder, I mean. Dang, I thought this winter was like getting back to the old xmas-card days :).

35 posted on 01/14/2002 8:06:17 AM PST by Cachelot
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To: Rubber Duckie
"Turn all industrial regulation over to the enlighted Marxist-Scientists."

Who let the dogs out? HERE :D

Bump

36 posted on 01/14/2002 8:18:28 AM PST by Matchett-PI
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To: NativeNewYorker
And then you'll say
Even in time we shall control the day
When all you'll see
Deep inside the day's controlling you and me.

You'll see Perpetual Change.
You'll see Perpetual Change


37 posted on 01/14/2002 9:16:22 AM PST by lds23
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Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: Scruffdog
,,, heavier than air particles?
39 posted on 01/14/2002 10:02:40 AM PST by shaggy eel
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To: NativeNewYorker
Rush is covering this article now.
40 posted on 01/14/2002 10:21:42 AM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult
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