New paper finds ancient forest tundra under 2 miles of ice Greenland ice sheet resistant to melt In a new paper published in Science, the Greenland ice sheet has been found to be much more stable and resistant to melt than previously believed, having survived many episodes of warming over the past 2.7 million years to much higher temperatures [8C or higher temperatures than the present]. Thus, the alarmist notion of a tipping point and runaway melt of the Greenland ice sheet appears unfounded. The scientists were greatly surprised to discover an ancient tundra [with partial forest] landscape preserved under the Greenland Ice Sheet, below two miles of ice. We found organic soil that has been frozen to the bottom of the ice sheet for 2.7 million years, said University of Vermont geologist Paul Bierman -- providing strong evidence that the Greenland Ice Sheet has persisted much longer than previously known, enduring through many past periods of global warming. The new discovery indicates that even during the warmest periods since the ice sheet formed, the center of Greenland remained stable; its likely that it did not fully melt at any time, Vermonts Bierman said. This allowed a tundra landscape to be locked away, unmodified, under ice through millions of years of global warming and cooling. sciencedaily/releases/2014/04/140417141818.htm
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 06:47:38 +0000
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