It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The Arctic Shifts to a New Climate Pattern in Which "Normal" Becomes Obsolet
According to an international team of climate scientists, warming continues to shrink the snow and ice cover that defines the Arctic, signaling the region's shift
By Lauren Morello and ClimateWire October 22, 2010
Warming continues to shrink the snow and ice cover that defines the Arctic, signaling the region's shift to a new climate pattern, scientists said yesterday.
The area covered by sea ice hovered near its historic low this summer. In Greenland, record-high temperatures this year have helped accelerate the melting of the country's massive ice sheet. Throughout the Arctic, permafrost is warming and the blanket of snow is shrinking.
Those changes appear to be long-lasting, said an international team of climate experts who wrote the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.
Its blunt headline? "Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely."
"The Arctic is a system, and the system is changing," said Don Perovich, a sea ice expert with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who worked on the report. "It's not just that sea ice is being reduced. There's changes in Greenland, the atmosphere, the ecosystem, and these changes are affecting human activity."
That includes densely populated areas of the globe that lie outside the Arctic.
Originally posted by watchitburn
While we should not go out and actively try to harm the enviroment, climate change is a naturally occurring phenomena. It has happened many times throughout the history of the planet. To think people can change or stop it is pretty arrogant in my opinion.
Originally posted by 3finjo
You make some very good points - this isn't our planet to own or manage. But, climate change is a natural cycle that has always occured and will continue to occur. Are we speeding things up by our way of life? Possibly - a little bit. Can we alter our way of life sufficiently to slow it down? Not likely.
If the world was prepared to cull 80% of the human population, stop any production or farming of any kind and have the remaining people live a hunter-gatherer existance then we could possibly reduce our effect on the global warming. The earth, however would continue its cycle regardless and we will get another hot period or another ice age, most likely both (no, not at the same time!).
Originally posted by badgerprints
The climate has never been "normal". It has been changing for billions of years and continues to do so.
The earth has been warming since the peak of the last interglacial dip and "big news" science says it's not even the end of the ice age. It's just a warm period in the interglacial cycle. We're STILL in an ice age that could go on for millions of years.
It's getting hotter? Really? Cave dwelling prehistoric people could have told you that. They could also have told you that the idea that humans could "reverse" global warming was sheer madness but somehow people buy into that insanity too.
There were glaciers all the way into the temperate regions not that long ago and there will be again.
Until then humans just need to learn to adapt to the changing climate instead of living in a fantasy world where they can "reverse" global warming.
The core revealed that before 55 million years ago, the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean were ice-free and as warm as 18C (64F).
But the sudden increase in greenhouse gases boosted them to a balmy 24C (75F) and the waters suddenly filled with a tropical algae, Apectodinium.
Originally posted by Ferris.Bueller.II
What is the definition of "normal" on the global timescale? And were the humans of 55 million years ago the cause of this event?
Arctic's tropical past uncovered
The core revealed that before 55 million years ago, the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean were ice-free and as warm as 18C (64F).
But the sudden increase in greenhouse gases boosted them to a balmy 24C (75F) and the waters suddenly filled with a tropical algae, Apectodinium.
Originally posted by loner007
omg now instead of people claiming global warming isnt real now we have yes its real but its natural ....So if its natural ask me this before industrial revolution co2 in the atmosphere was a stable 278 ppm. Now its 38% more at 387 ppm. Where has this extra carbon dioxide comes from.....The natural cycle of carbon recyclying which uses carbon sinks to get rid and trap carbon dioxide has been keeping the co2 content on average at 278 ppm for the last million years. There has been a balance of the amount of co2 produced natually and the carbon dioxide taken up by the carbon sinks to give an average of 278 ppm. Now the locked up carbon content that has been stored away has been unlocked by man. So now the planet has extra co2 more than it can deal with. So that extra Co2 is not being absorbed through the carbon sinks and mans destruction of the same carbon sinks also has an affect. Now if people are too dumb to see this that whose fault is that? Reap what you sow people because a major ice age is around the corner and this ice age has nothing to do with the change in orbit around the sun which causes the interglacial iceages. This iceage is due to runaway warming. Dont believe me? Check any temperature graph for the last several million years and see what happens EVERY time theres a sharp rise in warming.edit on 13/11/2010 by loner007 because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by loner007
This iceage is due to runaway warming.
Originally posted by NoHierarchy
You're setting up seriously ridiculous arguments I'm not even sure why I'm addressing them...