Hockey Schtick, Sunday, May 1, 2011

New Paper: Greenland ice sheet didn’t melt despite temperatures much hotter in the past

A new paper from the 2011 Antarctic Science Symposium presents new ice core data from Greenland and finds that not even the southern portion of Greenland was ice-free during the Eemian period, despite temperatures much higher than the present (5C or 9F) lasting for 16,000 years (from 130,000 to 114,000 years ago). Meanwhile, alarmists such as Richard Alley (buddy of Michael Mann at Penn State) and James Hansen claim “The entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear from the world map if temperatures rise by as little as 2C.” Note global temperatures have recovered by a mere 0.7C since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850 and have been flat to declining since 1998.

Enlarged.

Eemian Period from 130,000 to 114,000 years ago was est. to be at least 5C hotter than the present

The role of the Greenland Ice Sheet in future sea levels - Based on palaeorecords from ice cores and present observations

A new Greenland ice core has been drilled. The first results from the NEEM ice core are presented and then combined with results from other deep ice cores from the Greenland Ice Sheet.

All of the ice cores drilled through the Greenland Ice Sheets have been analyzed, and the results show that all contain ice from the previous warm Eemian period near the base. Is it thus clear that the Greenland Ice Sheet has existed for over 120,000 years, going back to the previous warm period, when it was 5 deg C warmer over Greenland?

The difference between Eemian and Holocene stable oxygen isotope values has been combined with an ice sheet flow model constrained by the ice core results and internal radio echo sounding layers, to estimate the volume of the Greenland Ice Sheet 120,000 years ago.

The results show that South Greenland has not been ice-free during the Eemian period, and that the sea level contribution from the Greenland Ice Sheet has been 1 to 2 meters.

See post.

See also A 225-year reconstruction of Greenland ice melt by World Climate Report on the Greenland ice melt which likewise concludes no cause for alarm.

-------------------

Record Snow Season in Western Ski Country

The season is now over at most US resorts but for several famous name areas it has been a record-breaking winter for snowfall, and those that are still open are racking up fresh snowfall even now.

In Colorado Vail, which closed at the weekend, has reported more snow than ever before. Vail has received 511 inches (12.8m) of snow this winter, beating the previous record of 505 inches set in the 1977-78 season.

Two nearby resorts that are still open - Arapahoe Basin and Loveland - have both recently passed the 100 inch (2.5m) base level and, in Loveland’s case at least, may also set all time snowfall records.

Loveland has had a foot (30cm) of new snow in the past few days and a similar amount is forecast for the next few days. So far it has received 536 inches of snow this winter and needs to pass 572 inches (the 1995/96 season total) to break records. Its season continues to May 8th. Arapahoe Basin has seen similar snowfalls recently although its season-to-date total is less than 400 inches (10 metres). It currently expects to stay open until at least June 5th.

In California several resorts have set all-time snowfall records, including Mammoth Mountain which plans to remain open in to July. Squaw Valley is open weekends through May.

Other still open options include Snowbird in Utah, Crystal Mountain in Washington state (which announced a foot of snow earlier this week and hopes to stay open to July) and Timberline in Oregon which aims to stay open almost year round (Closing for a few weeks in September). It issued a powder alarm for 41cm of new snow on Tuesday.

Snowbird also just reported it has received the most snow in its 40 year history at 690 inches (17.25m)

“This has been a remarkable season for Snowbird,” said resort president Bob Bonar. “We’ll be celebrating with skiing until Memorial Day and most likely beyond, with conditions that are anything but typical spring skiing.”

And the snowpack was said to be diminishing especially in the early spring in the Pacific Northwest. Here courtesy of Steve Goddard are two images from Mt. Rainier.