[Vision2020] Paleoclimate of Greenland Ice: Ice Free Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum & Human Greenhouse Gas Emission Rate: Was: World's Largest Island Close to Independence

[Ted Moffett]

Your statement that "Greenland was heavily forested one million years ago"
may very well be true, but it appears likely this was only in
Southern Greenland.   The "Science" journal article claiming there were
forests in Greenland within the past million years indicated they were in
Southern Greenland, but not in Northern Greenland (unless I missed
something).  And from what I have read on the subject, the development of
the Greenland ice sheet started several million years ago.

The Greenland ice sheet is an interesting climate phenomenon given many
other areas on Earth at the latitudes of the southern Greenland ice sheet
are not ice covered year round.  The southernmost latitude of the Greenland
ice sheet is within the boundaries of the temperate zone, if I have my facts
correct.

Ted Moffett
On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:00 AM, <nickgier at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> Hi Ted,
>
> Thanks for the slight correction.  I will now move GOP mind-set and
> Greenland's forests to the Middle Pleistocene.
>
> Nick
>
> ---- Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:
> > According to a "Science" journal article from July 6, 2007, data is
> > presented suggesting southern Greenland was forest covered less than a
> > million years ago, between 450,000 to 800,000 years ago:
> >
> > http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/317/5834/111
> >
> > From article above:
> >
> > It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth's terrestrial
> > surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence,
> > knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited.
> We
> > show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from
> > the basal sections of deep ice cores, enabling reconstructions of past
> flora
> > and fauna. We show that high-altitude southern Greenland, currently lying
> > below more than 2 kilometers of ice, was inhabited by a diverse array of
> > conifer trees and insects within the past million years.
> > --------------
> > Article on these findings above:
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6276576.stm
> > --------------
> > As to when the last time Greenland was mostly or entirely ice free, the
> > research presented in this "Nature" journal article June 27, 2008,
> suggests
> > it was around 3 million years ago:
> >
> > http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7208/abs/nature07223.html
> >
> > It is thought1,
> > <
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7208/full/nature07223.html#B1
> >2<
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7208/full/nature07223.html#B2
> >that
> > the Northern Hemisphere experienced only ephemeral glaciations from
> > the
> > Late Eocene to the Early Pliocene epochs (about 38 to 4 million years
> ago),
> > and that the onset of extensive glaciations did not occur until about 3
> > million years ago3,
> > <
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7208/full/nature07223.html#B3
> >4<
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7208/full/nature07223.html#B4>
>  > .
> > ------------------
> > http://www.livescience.com/environment/080827-greenland-ice.html
> >
> > From article above on the "Nature" journal article on this subject:
> >
> > Around 3 million years ago, there was an increase in the amount of rock
> and
> > debris deposited on the ocean floor around Greenland. The stuff must have
> > been deposited by ice that had originated on land and then become
> icebergs,
> > indicating that large amounts of ice on Greenland only began to form
> around
> > that time, scientists say.
> >
> > "Prior to that, Greenland was largely ice-free and probably covered in
> grass
> > and forest," said Dan Lunt of the University of Bristol in England.
> > ------------------
> > The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, about 55-6 million years ago,
> featured
> > a world with no ice caps at all:
> >
> > http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/316/5824/587
> >
> > From "Science" journal article above:
> >
> > The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) has been attributed to a
> sudden
> > release of carbon dioxide and/or methane. 40Ar/39Ar age determinations
> show
> > that the Danish Ash-17 deposit, which overlies the PETM by about 450,000
> > years in the Atlantic, and the Skraenterne Formation Tuff, representing
> the
> > end of 1 ± 0.5 million years of massive volcanism in East Greenland,
> > are coeval.
> > The relative age of Danish Ash-17 thus places the PETM onset after the
> > beginning of massive flood basalt volcanism at 56.1 ± 0.4 million years
> ago
> > but within error of the estimated continental breakup time of 55.5 ± 0.3
> > million years ago, marked by the eruption of mid-ocean ridge basalt–like
> flows.
> > These correlations support the view that the PETM was triggered by
> > greenhouse gas release during magma interaction with basin-filling
> > carbon-rich sedimentary rocks proximal to the embryonic plate boundary
> > between Greenland and Europe.
> > ------------------
> >
> > Article below ("Nature" journal, Jan. 17, 2008) suggests that current
> > anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are at a rate that "almost equals"
> > the greenhouse gas release rate that triggered the Paleocene-Eocene
> Thermal
> > Maximum:
> >
> > http://es.ucsc.edu/%7Ejzachos/pubs/Zachos_Dickens_Zeebe_08.pdf<http://es.ucsc.edu/~jzachos/pubs/Zachos_Dickens_Zeebe_08.pdf>
> <http://es.ucsc.edu/~jzachos/pubs/Zachos_Dickens_Zeebe_08.pdf>
>  >
> > From article above:
> >
> > The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum lasted around 20,000 years, and was
> > superimposed on a 6 million year period of more gradual global
> > warming,[6]peaking later in the Eocene at the "Eocene climatic optimum".
> > Other "hyperthermal" events can be recognised during this period of
> cooling,
> > including the Elmo event (ETM2). During these events, of which the PETM
> was
> > by far the most severe, around 1,500 to 2,000 gigatons of carbon were
> > released into the ocean/atmosphere system over the course of 1,000 years.
> > This rate of carbon addition almost equals the rate at which carbon is
> being
> > released into the atmosphere today through anthropogenic activity.
> > ------------------------------------------
> > Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 12:03 PM, <nickgier at roadrunner.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Greetings:
> > >
> > > This is my radio commentary/column for this week.  I think the Danish
> queen
> > > may have overdone it a little bit by showing up in Inuit costume,
> complete
> > > with sealskin pants and boots.
> > >
> > > For a picture of Queen Margrethe II handing over power see the full
> > > version, attached as a PDF file.
> > >
> > > Nick Gier
> > >
> > > WORLD'S LARGEST AND COLDEST ISLAND CLOSER TO INDEPENDENCE
> > >
> > > Adding to the ignorance many Republicans display about global warming,
> > > party chairman Michael Steele recently pontificated that Greenland got
> its
> > > name because it was once just as green as Iceland was.
> > >
> > > When Iceland was settled in the 9th Century, glaciers covered only 10
> > > percent of the land mass, but Greenland's ice sheet extended over 80
> percent
> > > of the island.  Fugitive Eric the Red told tall tales about verdant
> > > landscapes in order to get people to settle there.
> > >
> > > Greenland was heavily forested one million years ago; and, come to
> think of
> > > it, Early Pleistocene would be a good way to describe many GOP
> personalities
> > > and policies.
> > >
> > > The Norse emigrants (5,000 at their peak) eked out a living in the
> warming
> > > period before the "Little Ice Age" cooled the Northern Hemisphere
> during the
> > > 15th-18th Centuries. Ice eventually blocked the fjord to the Western
> > > Settlement and all the people there died by 1350.  The last recorded
> event
> > > in the Eastern Settlement was a wedding in 1408.
> > >
> > > On orders from their bishop, the Norsemen were forbidden to trade with
> or
> > > learn from the Inuit.  Rather than sewing warm clothing from skins, the
> > > settlers  insisted on wearing the latest European fashions.
> > >
> > > The first recorded encounter found the Norsemen stabbing captive
> natives to
> > > see how they would bleed.  Understandably, the Intuit fought back and
> the
> > > Norsemen, desperately recycling worn-out iron implements and weapons,
> simply
> > > could not defend, let alone, feed themselves.
> > >
> > > Denmark took over the island in the early 18th Century and ruled it
> until
> > > the Greenlanders were granted home rule in 1979. The Danish colonists
> > > survived primarily because they dressed, ate, and transported
> themselves as
> > > the Inuit did.
> > >
> > > Greenland's oil and mineral reserves are massive, and Canadian, Danish,
> and
> > > Russian military ships are staking out new Arctic oil fields.  It is
> > > estimated that Greenland alone may have 50 billion barrels.
> > >
> > > In the November 2008 election, 76 percent of Greenlanders voted for
> > > independence, and last month the Danish government handed over control
> of
> > > everything except defense, currency, and foreign policy.
> > >
> > > Dressed in native costume complete with seal skin pants and boots,
> Queen
> > > Margrethe II of Denmark made it official in a ceremony in Nuuk, the
> island's
> > > capital.  The country will now be called Kalaallit Nunaat (Land of the
> > > Greenlanders) and Kalaallisut will become the official language.
> > >
> > > The 2008 election also saw the turning out of Social Democrats, who had
> > > dominated the Kalaallit parliament for 30 years.  Their members had
> lived it
> > > up a little too much in the bars and restaurants of Copenhagen.
> > >
> > > The Socialist Party, led by people in their 20s and 30s, received 44
> > > percent of the vote.  American defense officials were relieved to hear
> that
> > > the new prime minister Kuupik Kleist will allow the U.S. to stay at its
> base
> > > in Thule, which is now part of America's missile defense system.
> > >
> > > In 2007 the increase in temperatures on Kalaallit, depending on the
> > > location, was a dramatic 2.3-4.8 degrees Fahrenheit. All of Kalaallit's
> > > glaciers are in major retreat and the largest, the Jakobshavn Glacier,
> has,
> > > according to Oregon State scientists, "nearly doubled its flow speed in
> the
> > > past decade."
> > >
> > > In 2007 24 cubic miles of the ice sheet broke off into the sea.  The
> > > melting and breaking up of Kalaallit ice is responsible for a quarter
> of the
> > > alarming increase in sea levels since 1996.
> > >
> > > Global warming is bad news for Kalaallit's people in the north.  Their
> life
> > > style, which depends on hunting and traveling on ice, has been severely
> > > disrupted, not only for Greenlanders but Arctic people all across the
> top of
> > > the world.
> > >
> > > With 56,000 people Kalaallit will be the 9th smallest country in the
> world,
> > > but most of those in group (South Pacific and Caribbean islands,
> Monaco, and
> > > Liechtenstein) are doing quite well despite their size.  We should wish
> the
> > > people of Kalaalit the very best in their new adventures in nationhood.
> > >
> > > Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
> > >
> > > =======================================================
> > >  List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> > >               http://www.fsr.net
> > >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > =======================================================
> > >
>
>
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