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Arctic temperatures are high: big deal
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(AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer Patrick Kelley)
The news reports are full of it: arctic temperatures are the highest in the last 2,000 years – big hairy deal, and probably incorrect to boot.
It is wise to always be wary of reports that impose arbitrary limits on their time frames. This report says that the arctic is supposedly warmer now than at any time in the last 2,000 years. What about the last 3,000 years? Reports like this are politically motivated blatant attempts to get people excited over comparatively short term phenomena.
There are things we know from human history that argue very strongly against this notion. We know that Vikings were able to settle in Greenland between 900 AD and 1300 AD. They grew crops, raised cattle and thrived in climate that was warmer than today's. We know that from archaeological evidence, ice core studies, and a variety of other complicated scientific measuring tools. This period of time is known to geologists as the Medieval Warming which was a global event. During this time temperatures were at least 2 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the are today.
When Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony were busy sparking Cleopatra, global temperatures were higher than they are today, possibly as much as 6 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit). We know this from archaeological evidence (farmers were able to successfully grow crops at higher altitudes in the mountains than they can today), and the usual compliment of tree ring studies, ice core sampling, etc. But we don't need any of the science to realize that it was warmer then: Roman men wandered around in what amounts to a T-shirt, mini-skirt and bare-legged year round - something Italians cannot do today.
This period is known to geologists as the Roman Warming. It lasted from 250 BC to 450 AD, and it was substantially warmer then – world wide – then it is now. This very warm period in earth history is probably the reason why the reports state that “arctic temperatures are the highest in last 2,000 years,” because they most likely are NOT the highest in the last 2,250 years. See what a difference a couple centuries can make.
2,000 years is no big deal in the nearly 4,000,000,000 years of the planet's history. More importantly, we only have 37 years of accurate temperature records for the arctic to go on – measuring did not start until 1972. We know the last 37 years with certainty, and the rest by inference from other sources. And combining the two, we discover that the arctic has been warming for at least 120 years.
Bear in mind also, that the two warm periods mentioned above – the Medieval Warming and the Roman Warming – both occurred before the post WWII massive industrialization which is claimed to be causing catastrophic changes in earth's climate. Pfui. Something other than carbon dioxide must be driving climate change.
Melting arctic ice is normal. The ice cap always melts at its leading edge. It has been doing this for thousands of years and will continue to do this for thousands of years to come. Ice bergs form all the time, sometimes they wipe out ocean liners but most sailors are wise enough to steer clear of them. This is the way the world works.
It takes a huge gob of heat to melt ice. 80 calories of heat must be applied to a single cubic centimeter of ice (approximately 1/16 of a cubic inch) to convert it from ice to water. From then on a single calorie of heat will raise the temperature of water one degree Celsius (that's the definition of a calorie, by the way). To melt a significant amount of ice requires a lot of heat. Much more heat than can be accounted for by 6/10 of a degree Celsius which was the net increase recorded in the 20th century.
The arctic region is one of the least well understood parts of the planet. It's climate depends on incoming solar radiation, the circulation of tropical ocean currents and probably several more things we have yet to notice.
It's counter-intuitive but colder weather causes the ice caps to shrink and warmer weather causes the ice caps to grow. It works like this: warmer weather causes more water to evaporate from the oceans thus increasing precipitation on the ice cap. Colder weather yields less evaporation and less precipitation. The ice cap is in a constant state of rebuilding itself.
The notion that you can explain arctic temperatures by the use of single variable, CO2, is poppycock.
There are more things going on in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the Global Warming alarmist's philosophy.
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