That's a rate of about 4.3 centimeters per hour.
Can anybody elaborate as to why this process takes so long?
Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
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Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#72Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
120k years ago in context:
* 170,000 years ago: humans are wearing clothing by this date.
* 125,000 years ago: the peak of the Eemian interglacial period.
* ~120,000 years ago: possibly the earliest evidence of use of symbols etched onto bone
* 75,000 years ago: Toba Volcano supereruption that may have contributed to human populations being lowered to about 15,000 people
The Eemian climate is believed to have been warmer than the current Holocene. Changes in the Earth's orbital parameters from today (greater obliquity and eccentricity, and perihelion), known as Milankovitch cycles, probably led to greater seasonal temperature variations in the Northern Hemisphere. During the northern summer, temperatures in the Arctic region were about 2-4 °C higher than in 2011.
The hippopotamus was distributed as far north as the rivers Rhine and Thames. . . . The prairie-forest boundary in the Great Plains of the United States lay further west near Lubbock, Texas, whereas the current boundary is near Dallas. . . . Sea level at peak was probably 6 to 9 metres (20 to 30 feet) higher than today . . . .
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#73Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
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Just in case this is just a case of word confusion (which I've had before), "anthropogenic" means "caused by humans", not "occurring at the same time as humans".
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ice cores are a few inches across. The photo at the top of the article is not of the drill hole but of the hole they had to dig in the snow to get to the ice they actually drilled. See the photo of the final ice core [1] to see how miniscule the actual drill hole is. [1] https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2023/pay-dirt-for-i...
Why is is black and white though? also - how do they transfer energy to drill down 2.7km? or how the hell does it work?
As mentioned in the article, the core was handled under red light to prevent any potential damage. Perhaps the decision to convert the photograph to black and white was made because otherwise it would have been black and red.
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#75Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
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People worry about accelerating climate change now because we live here now.
It’s not a theoretical science thing. We have farms and cities and towns and bridges and dams and reservoirs in particular places, and we are accelerating the depreciation of many of them. The result will be tremendous loss of wealth, movement of populations, and the associated social consequences of those.
Humanity doesn’t hate itself, we like ourselves, which is why we are so concerned about what we are doing to ourselves.
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#76Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
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If you're in the "head in the sand cult" you might be obliviously happier than the the "doomsday cult", but our ancestors will hate you much more.
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#77Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#78Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
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Please correct me if I'm wrong. The amplitudes of co2 ppm seem to always have been within a certain band though, topping out at 300ppm. Right now, we're at 420ppm and increasing what looks like exponentially. [0]
I'm not saying humans won't be fine but we've never been so dependent on the stability of the climate before. People will die, get displaced, suffer economically, etc as far as I understand.
[0] https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/...
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#79Interesting: "Towards the base, the ice is more than 120,000 years old and dates back to the last interglacial period, a time when the atmospheric temperature above Greenland was 5°C warmer than today."
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Part of the problem, which you fail to address, is the time frame when these changes take place and the possibility of the ecosystem to adapt. Yes, we've been much cooler and much warmer, with these changes taking place over thousand of years: not a couple of centuries.
Re: Ice core scientists in East Greenland reach bedrock
#80That's a rate of about 4.3 centimeters per hour. Can anybody elaborate as to why this process takes so long?
I've never drilled a hole with 10m diameter before, but I imagine they've been more careful about taking and studying cores than you were.