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Greenland's massive ice melt wasn't supposed to happen until 2070. It seems even the scientific predictions can be too conservative. The changing climate isn't

by tito 7y ago

Greenland's massive ice melt wasn't supposed to happen until 2070. It seems even the scientific predictions can be too conservative. The changing climate isn't a linear system, it's more like a step function. Once the ice melts it's much harder to get back. https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2019/08/16/greenlands-massive-ice-melt-wasnt-supposed-to-happen-until-2070/#73bd18274894 https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2019/08/16/greenla...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
all2 7y ago
It is interesting to note that just about 1000 years ago the Vikings were growing barley in Greenland [0]. > “Now we can see that the Vikings could grow corn, and this was very important for their nourishment and survival,” Barley seems to do ok in late Spring conditions in the NE United States [1]. I'm not certain you could grow barley or corn in Tundra conditions. I bring this up when people mention warming global conditions because the planet has, in the past, been much warmer than it is now. [0] https://sciencenordic.com/agriculture-archaeology-denmark/vikings-grew-barley-in-greenland/1447746 https://sciencenordic.com/agriculture-archaeology-denmark/vi... [1] https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/ccpg_horde.pdf https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/ccpg_horde.pdf
- Sharlin 7y ago
  It was a well-known and understood roughly 300-year localized warmer period[1] in Western Europe and the North Atlantic. The planet has been globally warmer than what it is now but that was long before H. sapiens and has nothing to do with the Vikings or barley. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period
phkahler 7y ago
It's part of a natural cycle. We were never going to stop it anyway. The real means to stop it will not be talked about until the serious changes start happening and the entire world is in panic.
- ben_w 7y ago
  Your first sentence is false (there are natural cycles but the next one is due to cause an ice age in a few thousand years’ time, not warming). Your second sentence is TBD, except that the actual natural cycle that would have led to an ice age in a few thousand years’ time has been disrupted and that ice age (and perhaps the one after it) will not now occur. Your third sentence does not follow from either of the first two, and is demonstrably false as a conclusion because we are in fact talking about it.
  - phkahler 7y ago
    >> Your first sentence is false (there are natural cycles but the next one is due to cause an ice age in a few thousand years’ time, not warming) I contend that the warming leads to a tipping point that brings on the glaciation. Its part of the cycle.
    - tito 7y ago
      That would be neat, like something out of Pacific Rim where these monsters come out of the ground and start making a lot of ice! "It's too hot! ROOOOARRRR!"

by tito 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

all2 7y ago

It is interesting to note that just about 1000 years ago the Vikings were growing barley in Greenland [0]. > “Now we can see that the Vikings could grow corn, and this was very important for their nourishment and survival,” Barley seems to do ok in late Spring conditions in the NE United States [1]. I'm not certain you could grow barley or corn in Tundra conditions. I bring this up when people mention warming global conditions because the planet has, in the past, been much warmer than it is now. [0] https://sciencenordic.com/agriculture-archaeology-denmark/vikings-grew-barley-in-greenland/1447746 https://sciencenordic.com/agriculture-archaeology-denmark/vi... [1] https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/ccpg_horde.pdf https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/ccpg_horde.pdf

Sharlin 7y ago
It was a well-known and understood roughly 300-year localized warmer period[1] in Western Europe and the North Atlantic. The planet has been globally warmer than what it is now but that was long before H. sapiens and has nothing to do with the Vikings or barley. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period

phkahler 7y ago

It's part of a natural cycle. We were never going to stop it anyway. The real means to stop it will not be talked about until the serious changes start happening and the entire world is in panic.

ben_w 7y ago
Your first sentence is false (there are natural cycles but the next one is due to cause an ice age in a few thousand years’ time, not warming). Your second sentence is TBD, except that the actual natural cycle that would have led to an ice age in a few thousand years’ time has been disrupted and that ice age (and perhaps the one after it) will not now occur. Your third sentence does not follow from either of the first two, and is demonstrably false as a conclusion because we are in fact talking about it.
- phkahler 7y ago
  >> Your first sentence is false (there are natural cycles but the next one is due to cause an ice age in a few thousand years’ time, not warming) I contend that the warming leads to a tipping point that brings on the glaciation. Its part of the cycle.
  - tito 7y ago
    That would be neat, like something out of Pacific Rim where these monsters come out of the ground and start making a lot of ice! "It's too hot! ROOOOARRRR!"