http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=11&fd=20&fy=2003&sm=11&sd=20&sy=2013
This is Nov. 20 2003 vs. Nov. 20 2013
Posted on 11/22/2013 1:22:58 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Think Greenland’s ice sheet is small today?
It was smaller — as small as it has ever been in recent history — from 3-5,000 years ago, according to scientists who studied the ice sheet’s history using a new technique they developed for interpreting the Arctic fossil record.
“What’s really interesting about this is that on land, the atmosphere was warmest between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago, maybe as late as 4,000 years ago. The oceans, on the other hand, were warmest between 5-3,000 years ago,” said Jason Briner, PhD, University at Buffalo associate professor of geology, who led the study.
“What it tells us is that the ice sheets might really respond to ocean temperatures,” he said. “It’s a clue to what might happen in the future as the Earth continues to warm.”
The findings appeared online on Nov. 22 in the journal Geology. Briner’s team included Darrell Kaufman, an organic geochemist from Northern Arizona University; Ole Bennike, a clam taxonomist from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland; and Matthew Kosnik, a statistician from Australia’s Macquarie University.
The study is important not only for illuminating the history of Greenland’s ice sheet, but for providing geologists with an important new tool: A method of using Arctic fossils to deduce when glaciers were smaller than they are today.
Scientists have many techniques for figuring out when ice sheets were larger, but few for the opposite scenario. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...
*Ice sheets are like bulldozers. As they grow, they push rocks, boulders, clams, fossils and other debris into piles called moraines.
*By dating ancient clams in moraines, scientists have come up with a new technique for determining when glaciers were smaller than they are today.
*The technique suggests that the Greenland Ice Sheet was at its smallest point in recent history 3-5,000 years ago — information that could improve our understanding of how ice responds to climate change.
The Irish hills here in Southern Michigan are a glacial moraine. Lots of gravel pits and sandstone quarries in my neck of the woods.
The glaciers in Glacier National Park are only a few thou and years old... Must have been a lot warmer 4-5000 years ago
http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/glac/
First evidence for the existence of SUVs between 3000 and 5000 years ago. Now if they could just find some fossils....
That's why they banned them then.
Bet ya don’t sit around wishing the glaciers hadn’t melted.
The Earth is warming?
Even as solar activity dawdles at historically record low levels??
Clue me in, Batman.
What bat guano you been smoking lately?
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=11&fd=20&fy=2003&sm=11&sd=20&sy=2013
This is Nov. 20 2003 vs. Nov. 20 2013
As I recall from history, the Vikings began settling Greenland about 980 during the medieval warm period. The island had forests and grasslands near the coast at that time which was warmer than today. The Norse settlers were able to farm the land until about 1400 when the settlements disappeared, likely due to the cooling of the climate.
Especially considering the fact that I’m on the north side of the big hill.
Greenland was a farming community for the Vikings. It wasn't just the colder weather that did them in. It was totally deforesting the island. That's why the Vikings found their way to North America way back, in medeival times. They were looking for more wood and resources. (according to the book)
Perhaps that’s why they called in Greenland?
Seeing the 2013 photo reminds me I need to split some firewood.
The deforestation eventually ended Greenland settlements along with natural climate change (cooling) in the 1400’s and 1500’s which made farming and cattle raising impossible.
The Vikings originally settled Greenland about 980. Approximately 20 years later they discovered North America. They failed to establish a permanent settlement in what they called Vinland (now Newfoundland) but there is evidence they visited North American periodically up to the late 1300s, possibly harvesting timber and fish.
Apparently the Scandinavians of the 1000-1400 era either did not have the population pressure to seek expanded colonies in North America, and the natural resources their explorations identified in North American were not valuable enough to economically transport back to the home country. By the 1300’s there was no interest in sustaining the outposts in either Greenland or North American in Norway and Denmark.
It is why. Iceland was called Iceland because it was all iced over. Very interesting.
It is why. Iceland was called Iceland because it was all iced over. Very interesting.
It’s a clue to what happened many years ago and disproves Algore’s fable about this being the “hottest decade ever”! ARRRRRRRRGHHHH!
bkmk
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