Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet was smaller 3000-5000 years ago than today
Watts Up with That ^ | November 22, 2013 | University of Buffalo

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 ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; chalcolithic; climatechangefraud; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; greenland
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: Brad from Tennessee

FWIW:

The last documentary evidence from Greenland’s settlements dates to AD 1408—a letter home concerning a wedding at Hvalsey Church—but it is believed that people continue to live there until at least the mid-15th century. By 1540, when a ship arrived from Norway, all the settlers were gone, and the Norse colonization of Greenland had ended.


21 posted on 11/22/2013 4:20:32 PM PST by Elsiejay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Soul of the South
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.

I read this researching a paper. I also read a Lib try to explain off the warm period saying that Greenland was NOT "green". That the Vikings named the island Greenland simply to entice other potential immigrants to go there.

I kid you not.

22 posted on 11/22/2013 5:30:59 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Play the 'Knockout Game' with someone owning a 9mm and you get what you deserve)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

Air warms up then ocean warms up while ice shrinks then warm ocean causes snow over ice sheet which gets bigger and cools water and air. Repeat as needed.


23 posted on 11/22/2013 6:42:38 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Do The Math)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VeniVidiVici
That the Vikings named the island Greenland simply to entice other potential immigrants to go there.

That I think may be true, Greenland at its warmest was still not paradise but you could fish, grow wheat, farm and grow sheep. Then the ice took over.

24 posted on 11/22/2013 7:04:23 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Do The Math)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Mike Darancette

The writer meant that Greenland was still a cold and desolate place and that the Vikings were being deceptive by naming it Greenland just to get more people to settle there.

I agree with you that Greenland truly was “Green”. At least around the edges :)

They also had a settlement around the same time at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.


25 posted on 11/22/2013 7:14:00 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Play the 'Knockout Game' with someone owning a 9mm and you get what you deserve)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta

Bttt


26 posted on 11/22/2013 7:23:48 PM PST by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Soul of the South

A case can be made for teh Catholic CHurch being the proximate cause of teh demise of teh Greenland Viking Communities. Colder climate meant nothing to the native Inuits who had a marine mammal/seafood based society.

The priests made a big issue over the use of fur garments and “going native” in terms of foods.

Bad move, that! The gravces indicate that due to cold (exacerbated by wool instead of fur clothing), the women and children died disproportionately.

Interesting hypothesis, I think.


27 posted on 11/22/2013 8:23:15 PM PST by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est - Because of what Islam is and because of what Muslims do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

And you know that the WWII fighter aircraft recovered in the interior of the ice cap, 200 feet down, have been there for 200 million years.


28 posted on 11/22/2013 11:35:29 PM PST by Lexinom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...

Thanks Brad from Tennessee.

29 posted on 11/23/2013 2:26:40 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

Thanks Brad from Tennessee.

30 posted on 11/23/2013 2:27:29 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee
Hmmm, let's see, 3000 to 5000 years ago was the period of time covering the Minoan Warm Period that was much, much warmer than the tiny blip we have experienced since 1850 or so and its duration was about 12 times longer. The Minoan Warm Period was as much warmer than the Roman Warm Period was as much warmer than the Medieval Warm Period was as much warmer than the current warm period that came to a stop in 1997. So I would guess that we could expect to see a reduced ice load over this period of time.
31 posted on 11/23/2013 3:31:10 AM PST by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aruanan

“Otzi the Iceman, also called Similaun Man, Hauslabjoch Man or even Frozen Fritz, was discovered in 1991, eroding out of a glacier in the Italian Alps near the border between Italy and Austria. The human remains are of a Late Neolithic or Chalcolithic man who died between about 3350-3300 BC. Because he ended up in a crevasse, his body was perfectly preserved by the glacier in which he was found, rather than crushed by the glacier’s movements in the last 5,000 years. . .”

http://archaeology.about.com/od/iterms/qt/iceman.htm


32 posted on 11/23/2013 11:58:23 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Verginius Rufus; SunkenCiv; All

The SUV fossils are probably buried with the dinsaurs wearing saddles fossils.


33 posted on 11/29/2013 3:13:28 PM PST by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta; SunkenCiv; All

If I remember right, I was picking cherry tomatoes off the vines in my patio on Dec. 3rd. (mid Atlantic area) This has not been the case much since then. Had the first killing frost about the 22nd of Nov. this year.


34 posted on 11/29/2013 3:17:14 PM PST by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: gleeaikin

To be fair.

Living just outside of Washington DC for ....ever.

The Potomac used to freeze over on a regular basis, sometime between Jan and March.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s we would ice skate on the Occoquan above the dam.

Not the same as it was then.

As a fearless 16 Yo, walking out to “Test” the ice was a job that I volunteered for.

Never mind the stories of the guy that parked his car on the ice and the heat of the car caused it to fall into the river.

Walking out, on a seemingly frozen expanse, and testing the ice with a series of jumps, attempts to break the ice, while my buddies watched.

A crack ?

A measure of how thick the ice was.

The ice was always thinner near the edge.

Jump again and pound the ice with everything I had.

Let’s go !!!!

We played ice hockey with either chunks of ice or even rocks as pucks.

In retrospect, it was crazy.

I would never, never let my kid do what I did in my youth !!!

As much as I want to send my kid out to figure things out for themselves, the level of trust has changed.

“Be home for dinner” has changed into “what did you do and who were you with ?”


35 posted on 11/29/2013 3:54:22 PM PST by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta; All

Yes, what were we thinking has some merit. I have a son 44 in Special Forces. When he was 16 my late husband from farm country in the middle west, where they used it to blow up stumps, gave him a bottle of black powder. Son had fun making little bombs. Never used them to hurt anything, unlike some kids I knew 65 years ago who used cherry bombs to blow up frogs and fish.

One night my son came into the kitchen wearing his ROTC BDUs and face make up. I asked him about it. He said he and his ROTC Rangers buddies were going to camp out in the nearby forest/park. I said, “but isn’t it illegal to be there at night?” “True,” he said, “but the point is not to get caught.” I sighed, and thought, boys have to do something a bit wild, at least he is not out selling drugs.” Almost 30 years, after Iraq, Afghanistan and Afghanistan tours, he is still in one piece. Hope that lasts.


36 posted on 12/01/2013 12:25:31 PM PST by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson