Watching Greenland

Amidst all the silly "Global Warming" claims, there is the salient truth that weather and climate change. Always have, as you recall from the graphs earlier - and we are right at the end of one of the cycles. Putting aside the confounding concern over cow farts, how bio diesel CO2 is better than diesel CO2, and the benefits of using only one toilet paper sheet, there is the GREENLAND FACTOR. (I made that up.)

Paleoclimatogist observe, and take my word for it, that the "ice ages" occur rapidly as a result, it is surmised, by the shut down of the Gulf Stream. This can be accomplished, it is also suggested, by the quick melt off of Greenland, see an excellent BBC transcript called the "Big Chill" for coverage of this notion. This theory is consistent with that of the rapid warming trend that has been tracked just before each glacier period.

I don't particularly pay much attention to the howling of warming wolves, but I keep a worried eye on Greenland. There is nothing we can do, of course, as hundreds of thousands of years suggest, so the worried eye is more one of when to read real estate ads in Georgia.

The BBC is hot on the trail of the ice age. A simple Google into the area will reveal many reports of how Greenland is showing scary signs. Just below is a piece from the BBC. You can understand the BBC's interest as the first victim of a glacial age would be Great Britain - and the cooling would take place in less than a life time.

Following the BBC scare, you will find solace in a UPI report on the work of researcher Ian Howat who tells us, thank God, the Greenland ice melt rate of 2004/2005 has reversed itself and is now back to 2003 levels. I project, having a doctorate in jurisprudence, that the rate will further decrease as the solar flare activity wanes.

Finally, there is a ditty from 2005 which contradicts the scare piece, in a way, as it says the ice cap had been increasing, contrary to projection, because of more snow than usual. Yes sir, 100 percent of all scientists agree with Al Gore.

I need to document this threat of thought: I come across literature which talks of the Vikings actually being on a green Greenland, contrary to our elementary school story of how they were tricking others so they would not be attacked by some idiots who would want to engage Vikings by crossing the North Altantic. The yarn is Greenland was names thus to trick these morons; conversely, Iceland was named to avoid intgerest.

The Viking tales tell of Greenlandian villages where only glaciers now tread. The graph, above, comes from an interesting site that mulls over Viking experience in the North Atlantic starting 1,000 years ago, my kind of reading.

It would be a comforting fact to unearth, so to speak, that the warming trend, as happened ten centuries ago, does not necessarily portend a true Ice Age. Shoot, we can handle a mini ice age by burning more oil.

A Chilling Report:

Greenland's ice cap under threat

By Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online science editor

It could all go, say researchers Greenland's ice sheet could disappear within the next 1,000 years if global warming continues at its present rate, a report in Nature magazine suggests. [I am sorry. I don't usually like to interrupt a quote, but don't you find this a preposterous thesis? What rate? 1,ooo years? If it is the rate of the last week, we are all dead by Christmas.]

Jonathan Gregory and colleagues from the University of Reading, UK, say their studies forecast an 8C increase in Greenland's temperature by 2350.

They believe that if the ice cap melts, global average sea level will rise by about 7m (23ft).

Even if global warming was halted the rise could be irreversible, they say. [Ed. - Have a nice day!]
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The Heartwarming Report:

Study: Glacier melting can be variable
Feb 13 11:13 AM US/Eastern


BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests two of Greenland's largest glaciers are melting at variable rates and not at an increasing trend.

The study, led by Ian Howat, a researcher with the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, shows the glaciers shrank dramatically and dumped twice as much ice into the sea during a period of less than a year between 2004 and 2005.

But then, fewer than two years later, they returned to near their previous rates of discharge.

Howat says such variability during such a short time underlines the problem in assuming glacial melting and sea level rise will necessarily occur at a steady upward trajectory.

"Our main point is that the behavior of these glaciers can change a lot from year to year, so we can't assume to know the future behavior from short records of recent changes," he said. "Future warming may lead to rapid pulses of retreat and increased discharge rather than a long, steady drawdown."

The research is online in the journal Science Express.
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THE PLOT THICKENS

ICE CAP HAS THICKENED

- 20 Oct 2005 - Greenland 's ice-cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite wide predictions of a thaw, scientists said today. Satellite measurements show that more snowfall is thickening the ice-cap, especially at high altitudes, according to the report in the journal Science.

"The overall ice thickness changes are ... approximately plus 5 cms (1.9 inches) a year or 54 cms (21.26 inches) over 11 years," according to the experts at Norwegian, Russian and U.S. institutes led by Ola Johannessen at the Mohn Sverdrup center for Global Ocean Studies and Operational Oceanography in Norway. [Ed again - notice why not capitalizing "Center" is a stupid rule. I thought there were two institutions.]

So, there you have it. As clear as ice.

Keep your eye on the Gulf Stream and keep your SUV loaded with snow gear.