Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Best of the Web: Der Spiegel 1974 - New Ice Age Approaching. Odds Of A Warm Future "At Best 1 in 10,000″

P Gosselin
NoTricksZone
Sat, 18 Dec 2010 06:41 UTC
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© WikipediaDer Spiegel warned of a coming ice age in 1974. 10,000 to 1 odds against warming.
An increased frequency in extreme weather events, a cooling North Atlantic, and growing Arctic sea ice were viewed as signs of climate change. The odds of a warmer climate in the future, according to one scientist, were "at best 1 in 10,000″ (see below). That's what Der Spiegel wrote about in a 3700-word article back in 1974, warning the world of a coming ice age.

In that issue Der Spiegel described a series of "weather extremes" occurring all over the world, claiming they were unmistakable signs of a climate change to cooling: deluges of rain in West Germany, severe thunderstorms that uprooted trees and blew off roofs in Berlin, the worst storm in 100 years devastating much of Lower Saxony, hurricane Agnes inflicting 3 billion dollars in damage, floods in Japan and Peru, temperatures in Argentina, India and South Africa dropping to their lowest levels in 300 years.

Comment: Judging from current weather conditions in the UK and US as well as the disruption to the Gulf of Mexico loop current, Der Spiegel may still be proven correct.

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Magnify

Canada: 2-Million-Year-Old 'Mummy Trees' Reveal Harsh Climate

Jeremy Hsu
Live Science
Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:22 UTC
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© Joel Barker/Ohio State University.The remains of a mummified forest that lived on Ellesmere Island in Canada some 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today's Arctic will respond to global warming.
When rangers came across mummified wood uncovered by a melting glacier in the northernmost Arctic reaches of Canada, they had no idea they were staring at an ancient forest dating back millions of years. Researchers eventually found a twisted tangle of preserved trees that reflects a harsh struggle to survive during an ancient global cooling period.

The spindly trees would have barely hung on during a time when the Arctic climate changed from greenhouse to icehouse, on top of enduring darkness for half of each year. Signs of stress are evident in narrow tree rings and undersized leaves that were preserved at the time of death - when a landslide may have buried the trees alive.

"We know the climate was really hitting the fan for these guys," said Joel Barker, a biogeochemist at the Byrd Polar Research Center of Ohio State University.

Barker discussed the find here at the 2010 fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. His group's discovery in Ellesmere Island National Park represents the northernmost mummified forest site in Canada.
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Bizarro Earth

5.1-magnitude quake occurs in southern Greece, no damage reported


Winnipeg Free Press
Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:34 UTC
Athens, Greece - Seismologists in Greece say a 5.1 magnitude earthquake has rattled the south of the country, but there have been no reports from authorities of damage or injury.

Athens Geodynamic Institute, a state earthquake monitoring agency, said the undersea quake occurred at 11:37 a.m. (0937GMT), 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Athens, near the island of Milos. It struck at a depth of 103 kilometres (64 miles).
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Igloo

Extreme Weather Wreaks Havoc in Europe

Juergen Baetz
Times Colonist, Canada
Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00 UTC
Westminster Bridge
© Ben Stansall, AFP/Getty ImagesDecember 17: Snow falls on Westminster Bridge in London, on December 17, 2010. Bitterly cold weather was returning to Britain with a vengeance with widespread ice and snow due over the next few days, forecasters said. Up to a foot (30 centimetres) of snow could fall in some areas by Saturday, with Scotland bracing for some of the most severe weather for the second time this month.
Berlin - Heavy overnight snowfall grounded about 450 flights and caused major delays at German airports Friday, forced schools to close and left highways clogged with traffic after scores of accidents that killed at least two people and injured dozens.

Snow also hindered flights in the neighbouring Netherlands, where Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport saw 30 cancellations and major delays ahead of the busy Christmas holiday season, spokeswoman Mirjam Snoerwang said.

The European control agency Eurocontrol said passengers at Schiphol, one of continental Europe's busiest airports, had to expect delays of up to 4 1/2 hours.

Snow also closed Geneva airport early Thursday morning, though it was open again by midmorning, and flights were also disrupted in Zurich.

In Frankfurt, 300 flights had been cancelled by late morning, and the number is expected to rise throughout the day, airport spokesman Timo Ross said. About 8 inches (20 centimetres) of snow blanketed the state overnight, also causing the closure of schools around Frankfurt and elsewhere in Hesse.

The airport, continental Europe's second-biggest hub, had to be closed for about an hour late Thursday, and an estimated 1,000 passengers were stranded overnight, Ross said.

Munich airport, Germany's second-largest, reported 113 cancellations and major delays; Duesseldorf and Stuttgart saw more than 20 cancellations each.

Roads were clogged by snow, and in North-Rhine Westphalia state alone authorities reported traffic jams of more than 185 kilometres (115 miles) on highways, and 251 weather-related accidents that left 19 people injured.
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Igloo

UK: Severe Warning As Arctic Blast Blows In


Orange News
Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:58 UTC
snow
© Unknown
Severe weather warnings are in place as much of the country faces perishing overnight temperatures, fearsome ice and snow as deep as 20cm.

Scotland will be hit by more snow showers tonight, along with western parts of the UK, according to the Met Office.

Sky News weather presenter Isobel Lang warned there could be up to 20cm (8in) of the white stuff in some areas.

Arctic winds will push snow showers further to the north and west tomorrow and by Saturday morning there is likely to be a blanket of snow over a large part of the UK.
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Snowman

Ice storm chaos: How Atlanta commute turned into a demolition derby

Patrick Johnson
Christian Science Monitor
Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:00 UTC
atlanta,weather
© John Spink/Atlanta Journal & Constitution/APMotorists come to a standstill on the Stone Mountain Freeway due to an ice storm Thursday in Georgia's DeKalb County.
Atlanta reported more than 1,000 accidents as freezing rain coated roadways Wednesday night. The ice storm is another chapter in the South's strangely cold start to winter.

Atlanta, Georgia-Southerners are used to demolition derbies, but a mass of commuters surprised by an early winter ice storm found themselves on a giant hockey rink Wednesday.

The Atlanta metro area alone saw more than 1,000 accidents as motorists slid off roads, crashed into each other, and, in many cases, simply abandoned their cars and checked into motels literally miles from their homes. Few serious injuries were reported.

Georgia's state climatologist, David Stooksbury, came to the defense of the drivers involved in the great 2010 ice storm mashup. "I've seen drivers in the Midwest driving on ice, and they can't do it, either, so I don't want to hear it from them," says Mr. Stooksbury, who works at the University of Georgia.
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Snowman

Flashback Snow Cover Turns Dalmatia White


Dalje.com
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:22 UTC
Ice has covered the airports in Zadar and Split, and children in Split and Sibenik enjoy the winter ambient instead of going to school.
dalmatia
© Željko Skroče
Split, Croatia - During the night, snow painted Split white. If we were giving a short meteorological report, we would say that last night, from Tuesday to Wednesday, somewhere around 2am, light snow started to fall in Split carried by a north-easterly wind, only to totally turn the streets white by 4am. The strong winds pushed the snow to the ground, which had totally given way to the white covering.

However, it is important to explain to citizens in the northern parts of Croatia how Split's residents experience snow. It is always a welcome guest in Split, probably because it falls once every few years, and only lasts for a short time, because the surrounding mountains Mosor and Kozjak, as well as the proximity to the sea, rarely offer this part of Dalmatia to feel the joys of winter.
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Igloo

Wrap up warm for a polar winter, Croatia!


Croatian Times
Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:16 UTC
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© find-croatia.com
Some meteorologists are expecting a freezing winter this year in Croatia, with temperatures dropping below last year's record temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The "real" winters of some 50 years ago are back, says Kristijan Bozarov from Crometeo, the main Croatian meteorological website.

"This winter is likely to be somewhat colder than the last and colder than the average. But the coming cold front with snow is nothing unusual if you look at the period some 50 years ago."
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Bizarro Earth

Series Of Earthquakes Hit Central Arkansas

Jackie Orozco
Abc24.com
Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:57 UTC
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© USGS
Guy - Central Arkansas has been hit by a series of earthquakes recently, the biggest so far was a magnitude four that shook the town of Guy, about 150 miles west of Memphis. A research scientist from the University of Memphis, Dr. Steve Horton said Arkansas is getting a lot of unusual earthquakes, more than 60 in the last month. "In the New Madrid Seismic Zone there's approximately 200 per year, so if we had that many in Central Arkansas in less than a month, something is going on," said Dr. Horton.

That part of central Arkansas isn't even part of the New Madrid Fault Zone, so researchers are trying to figure out what's causing all those earthquakes. Horton thinks, the earthquake swarm could be the result of injecting salt water into old natural gas wells to force more gas production. "There's salt water that's a by product of the natural gas industry in that area and then disposed in a well," said Dr. Horton.

Even though the two areas are not connected, Horton's biggest worry is along the New Madrid Fault where he said damage from a magnitude six earthquake could be catastrophic to Mid-Southerners. "A probability of having that in a 50-year period is about 25 to 40-percent chance," said Dr. Horton.

Comment: There seems to be a good deal of activity in this area. See USGS Records 53 Quakes In Week In Arkansas County

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Evil Rays

San Andreas, US: Mysterious quake fault tremors to be studied


MSNBC
Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:26 UTC
Rumblings along stretch of San Andreas Fault could be quake precursors.

Seismic detectors will be installed along a stretch of the San Andreas Fault early next year to study mysterious tremors deep underneath, in the hope they will provide information about events that lead up to major quakes.

Seismologists will begin the installation in early 2011 near the town of Cholame, Calif., where the tremors were first detected in 2004. Tremors, which are different from earthquakes, are extremely faint, periodic rumblings some 12 to 25 miles underground - far deeper than earthquakes. Studies suggest tremors may serve as precursors to earthquakes.

"The discovery of tremors deep in the roots of active plate boundary fault zones is arguably the most important discovery in earthquake science in decades," said Roland Bürgmann of the University of California, Berkeley, part of the team that will install the sensors, in a news release about the project. "This is the first project in which a permanent instrument network has been specifically designed with tremor in mind."
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