Glaciers, What on Earth Are They Doing?
Ice Sheet Behavior Much More Volatile And Dynamic Than Previously Thought, Tahiti Corals Show (ScienceDaily, Apr. 30, 2009)
— Fossilised corals from tropical Tahiti show that the behaviour of ice sheets is much more volatile and dynamic than previously thought, a team led by Oxford University scientists has found.
Analysis of the corals suggests that ice sheets can change rapidly over just hundreds of years ….
“It’s amazing just how rapidly these ‘melting’ – or ‘deglaciation’ – events occurred and how enormous the volumes of ice involved were,” said Dr Alex Thomas, from the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University, lead author of the paper. “In the case of deglaciation after the penultimate ice age, before 137,000 years ago, we’re talking about ice sheets – that covered most of the USA and Canada and were up to five kilometres thick – simply vanishing.”….
We are starting to understand that recent observations of changes in ice sheets have not prepared us for just how rapidly the covering of ice across the Earth can fluctuate and that, as yet, we have not identified all the natural phenomena which drive deglaciation.”
Would someone please send this to Al Gore?
Oh, that’s right. There is no more uncertainty, or debate. We know it all, now. And we are certain that the enemy we espied is us! Our fault, the science is clear and concluded, and we must be punished … sent to our caves to think about what we’ve done. We can come out when we are ready to live purely (you know, like Golden Savages, leaving no trash or carbon footprint behind).
— Fossilised corals from tropical Tahiti show that the behaviour of ice sheets is much more volatile and dynamic than previously thought, a team led by Oxford University scientists has found.
Analysis of the corals suggests that ice sheets can change rapidly over just hundreds of years ….
“It’s amazing just how rapidly these ‘melting’ – or ‘deglaciation’ – events occurred and how enormous the volumes of ice involved were,” said Dr Alex Thomas, from the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University, lead author of the paper. “In the case of deglaciation after the penultimate ice age, before 137,000 years ago, we’re talking about ice sheets – that covered most of the USA and Canada and were up to five kilometres thick – simply vanishing.”….
We are starting to understand that recent observations of changes in ice sheets have not prepared us for just how rapidly the covering of ice across the Earth can fluctuate and that, as yet, we have not identified all the natural phenomena which drive deglaciation.”
