Greenland ice cores reveal warm climate of the past

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/news/news13/greenland-ice-cores-reveal-warm-climate-of-the-past/

[font face=Serif]2013-01-22

[font size=5]Greenland ice cores reveal warm climate of the past[/font]

[font size=4]In the period between 130,000 and 115,000 years ago, Earth’s climate was warmer than today. But how much warmer was it and what did the warming do to global sea levels? – as we face global warming in the future, the answer to these questions is becoming very important. New research from the NEEM ice core drilling project in Greenland shows that the period was warmer than previously thought. The international research project is led by researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute and the very important results are published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature.[/font]

[font size=3]…

“Even though the warm Eemian period was a period when the oceans were four to eight meters higher than today, the ice sheet in northwest Greenland was only a few hundred meters lower than the current level, which indicates that the contribution from the Greenland ice sheet was less than half the total sea-level rise during that period,” says Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and leader of the NEEM-project.

…

During the warm Eemian period there was increased melting at the edge of the ice sheet and the dynamic flow of the entire ice mass caused the ice sheet to lose mass and it was reduced in height. The ice mass was shrinking at a very high rate of 6 cm per year. But despite the warm temperatures, the ice sheet did not disappear and the research team estimates that the volume of the ice sheet was not reduced by more than 25 percent during the warmest 6,000 years of the Eemian.

“The good news from this study is that the Greenland ice sheet is not as sensitive to temperature increases and to ice melting and running out to sea in warm climate periods like the Eemian,as we thought” explains Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and adds that the bad news is that if Greenland’s ice did not disappear during the Eemian then Antarctica must be responsible for a significant portion of the 4-8 meter rise in sea levels that we know occurred during the Eemian.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11789

[Lionessa]

1. Well just to my layman's perspective, the assertion is ridiculous.

Though it may be true of that time and space, to assert that the "ice sheet is not as sensitive to temperature increases..." using specifically the term "is" as opposed to "was" is a ridiculous leap that completely discounts the facts that our continents and other masses on the earth are no longer in identical positions, neither is our relationship to the sun likely to be the same. I get that at those conclusions can be gleaned for THAT time, but not for THIS time.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. How quickly do you think continents drift?

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/ZhenHuang.shtml

Let’s call it (at most) 10 cm/year (or 1 meter every 10 years, or one kilometer every 10,000 years.)

So in 130,000 years, Greenland has moved… about ten miles (maybe.)

(Off by a factor of 10 in the first post.)

[Lionessa]

3. Drift isn't the only factor to continental movement, nor is continental movement the only

thing that would be different in comparing the two scenarios. This article seems to suggest to not worry a bit because the artic ice sheet will be mostly fine and iirc we already know that isn't the case this time around based on numerous articles showing the decline of the sheet and the failure of it to re-grow during winter months etc.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I wouldn’t say that the article suggests not to worry a bit…

“Even though the warm Eemian period was a period when the oceans were four to eight meters higher than today…”