Lake Superior changes mystify scientists

[babylonsister]

Lake Superior changes mystify scientists

By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer Fri Aug 3, 5:59 AM ET

MARQUETTE, Mich. - Deep enough to hold the combined water in all the other Great Lakes and with a surface area as large as South Carolina, Lake Superior's size has lent it an aura of invulnerability. But the mighty Superior is losing water and getting warmer, worrying those who live near its shores, scientists and companies that rely on the lake for business.

The changes to the lake could be signs of climate change, although scientists aren't sure.

Superior's level is at its lowest point in eight decades and will set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips three more inches. Meanwhile, the average water temperature has surged 4.5 degrees since 1979, significantly above the 2.7-degree rise in the region's air temperature during the same period.

That's no small deal for a freshwater sea that was created from glacial melt as the Ice Age ended and remains chilly in all seasons.

A weather buoy on the western side recently recorded an "amazing" 75 degrees, "as warm a surface temperature as we've ever seen in this lake," said Jay Austin, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota at Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070803/ap_on_sc/superior_puzzle;_ylt=Au79YGDKbxIAnuvxSzDrgKKs0NUE

[Submariner]

1. Global warming is all in our imagination

So says Oxyrush Dumbaugh and Sean Insanity. And heaven knows getting taught by those two who both flunked out of their freshman year in college is more reliable than those PhD science types.

Why would pumping billions of metric tons of fossil fuel exhaust and heat into the atmosphere exacerbate evaporation and affect weather systems? Duh!

Thanks for the post. More of this needs to be put in the face of the red state repubtards daily. Maybe it will get through to them eventually.

[Botany]

2. .... recorded an "amazing" 75 degrees

[northernsoul]

3. Friends, this ain't good

n/t

[Myrina]

4. It's all that hot air from Norm Coleman ...

n/t