Greenland Ice Cap Thickens Despite Warming

[Reno]

Links: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7000662788
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051020-033554-6983r
http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=10/22/2005&section_id=26&newsid=4631&spcl=no
http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsA...080495_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-GREENLAND.xml

Greenland Ice Cap Thickens Despite Warming

October 22, 2005 8:01 a.m. EST

Denise Royal - All Headline News Staff Writer

Oslo, Norway (AHN) - Greenland’s ice cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite predictions of a thaw brought on by global warning, a team of scientists said on Thursday.

The 9,842 feet thick ice cap is a key concern in debates about climate change because a total melt would raise sea levels by about 23 feet. This type of thaw might slow the Gulf Stream that maintains the warmth of the North Atlantic region.

Scientists say satellite measurements showed that more snowfall was falling and thickening the ice cap, especially at high altitudes. The full report is published in the journal Science.

Glaciers at sea level have been retreating fast because of a warming climate, making many other scientists believe the entire icecap was thinning. However, they said that the thickening seemed consistent with theories of global warming, blamed by most experts on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.

The panel that advises the United Nations has predicted that global sea levels might rise by almost a three feet by 2100 because of a warming climate.

 

[Perfection]

This trend may not last, though. The increased moisture brought by global warming will increase snowfall and hence thicken the ice too much can cause melt. Global warming is something that while it probobly won't be massively catastrophic, it still gonna be a thorn in our side. Fossil fuel usage should be decreased and eventually stopped.

 

[I am the Future]

Global warming is a crock.
Wasnt the entire world a tropoical paradise during the Mesozoic era?
If so, considering that Dinosaurs didn't have cars, couldn't the warming be linked to natural climate paterns and we are just hitting a warming period.

 

[Quasar1011]

Global warming would also produce more evaporation in the world's oceans, allowing more precipitation to fall in normally cold arctic areas. So, this report isn't surprising.

 

[The Yankee]

Global warming is a crock.

we are just hitting a warming period.

I just find this funny.

I'll leave this to the scientists and everyone else...all this stuff is far too large for my meager brain to wrap around.

 

[Cuivienen]

Global warming is a crock.
Wasnt the entire world a tropoical paradise during the Mesozoic era?
If so, considering that Dinosaurs didn't have cars, couldn't the warming be linked to natural climate paterns and we are just hitting a warming period.

The world was a "tropical paradise" because the continents were all clustered around the equator, which both made all of the continents warmer and drove the warm equatorial currents up into the polar regions, warming even the northern parts of the continents.

That, however, has nothing to do with modern climate changes, whether man-made or not.

 

[Kozmos]

This is strange ... and scary as it fits with some of the conspiracy theories I've been into.

 

[newfangle]

Global warming is a crock.
Wasnt the entire world a tropoical paradise during the Mesozoic era?
If so, considering that Dinosaurs didn't have cars, couldn't the warming be linked to natural climate paterns and we are just hitting a warming period.

Take a friggen logic course please.

Edit: nevermind, just checked your age. Perhaps grade 8 science would be in order.

 

[BasketCase]

Thickening ice cap could be just a fluke.....

 

[CornMaster]

As the earth warms, snow can fall at higher latitudes then previously, thus thickening ice in some areas, and melting ice in lower latitudes. If the trend continues...the area will get warmer until it rains instead of snows...and it all melts and we all die. Well...those around sea level...

 

[I am the Future]

The world was a "tropical paradise" because the continents were all clustered around the equator, which both made all of the continents warmer and drove the warm equatorial currents up into the polar regions, warming even the northern parts of the continents.

That, however, has nothing to do with modern climate changes, whether man-made or not.

You are so correct arn't you Becuase as you can see from theis picture from the mid Jurassic period most of the land is around the equator

 

[A'AbarachAmadan]

I would rename the topic as Greenland Ice Cap Thickens BECAUSE of Global Warming. Obvious due to changing patterns. Global warming is not a crock. It is real. The reason is debatable, but not the event.

 

[carlosMM]

@A'AbarachAmadan (wow, I actually typed that name correctly!!!!!):
yep!

@BasketCase: they are - sadly, this weird species of apes depends on their presence!

 

[SuperSloth]

global warming is real. whether or not it is caused by humans is unknown.

 

[Reno]

whether or not it is caused by humans is unknown.

And you base this on what...? It's been numerous times been (scientifically) proven that Humans are atleast in part responsible for it.

 

[CornMaster]

The point is not whether humans are adding to it...it's how much. And if that amount is worth taking into account. If you look at temperature graphs in recent years...I would say yeah. There has been a HUGE change in the rate of change in the last 100 years.

I think we lassoed a natural process and are dragging it forward as quick as we can.

I also think the REAL issue facing humans is can we cope with the changes global warming (natural or not) will bring? Destruction of arctic ecosystems, raising of the world ocean levels, super storms (saw a couple of those this year actually), and so on. If we can cope with the change...then great. But I don't think people in hurricane stricken places would agree. And natural or not, I would think people would want to keep a earth that is livable and comfortable for a human society.

What is evident here is a lack of understanding of the global warming process by the topic starter. But I think at this point, he's/she's been set straight.

 

[Reno]

What is evident here is a lack of understanding of the global warming process by the topic starter.

What makes you think that way...?

But I think at this point, he's/she's been set straight.

It's he.

 

[CornMaster]

What makes you think that way...?

Because you think that thickening of ice cap is antithetical to global warming. And as pointed out earlier, precipitation causes ice to thicken. The lattitudes involved in greenland ice cap are such that it was too cold to get much precipitation. As the earth warms, this area will warm causing temps to drop to a range where precipitation is possible.

Precipitation causes ice to thicken...as said earlier. And therefore global warming will cause ice to thicken in higher latitudes while melting it at lower latitudes.

As the earth warms...this line will continue moving north causing precipitation to fall at higher latitudes while ice will also melt at higher latitudes then normal (but not as high as the ice thickening obviously)

 

[Reno]

[Because you think that thickening of ice cap is antithetical to global warming./QUOTE]

The title of the thread "...Despite Warming" was only taken from the article i quoted, in the first link in the first post of this thread. It has nothing to do with my views or thoughts of global warming.

 

[SuperSloth]

And you base this on what...? It's been numerous times been (scientifically) proven that Humans are atleast in part responsible for it.

no it hasnt, there is no solid definitive evidence to support this. climate changes have always occurred and human records of global climate only go back about 80 years. until there is sufficient data, one cannot support the claim no matter how true it may seem.