A landscape unseen in over 40,000 years:

[beecee]

https://phys.org/news/2019-01-landscape-unseen-years.html

Glacial retreat in the Canadian Arctic has uncovered landscapes that haven't been ice-free in more than 40,000 years and the region may be experiencing its warmest century in 115,000 years, new University of Colorado Boulder research finds.

The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, uses radiocarbon dating to determine the ages of plants collected at the edges of 30 ice caps on Baffin Island, west of Greenland. The island has experienced significant summertime warming in recent decades.

"The Arctic is currently warming two to three times faster than the rest of the globe, so naturally, glaciers and ice caps are going to react faster," said Simon Pendleton, lead author and a doctoral researcher in CU Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR).

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-landscape-unseen-years.html#jCp

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the paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08307-w

Rapidly receding Arctic Canada glaciers revealing landscapes continuously ice-covered for more than 40,000 years:

Abstract

Arctic temperatures are increasing faster than the Northern Hemisphere average due to strong positive feedbacks unique to polar regions. However, the degree to which recent Arctic warming is unprecedented remains debated. Ages of entombed plants in growth position preserved by now receding ice caps in Arctic Canada help to address this issue by placing recent conditions in a multi-millennial context. Here we show that pre-Holocene radiocarbon dates on plants collected at the margins of 30 ice caps in Arctic Canada suggest those locations were continuously ice covered for > 40 kyr, but are now ice-free. We use in situ ¹⁴C inventories in rocks from nine locations to explore the possibility of brief exposure during the warm early Holocene. Modeling the evolution of in situ ¹⁴C confirms that Holocene exposure is unlikely at all but one of the sites. Viewed in the context of temperature records from Greenland ice cores, our results suggest that summer warmth of the past century exceeds now any century in ~115,000 years.

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https://phys.org/news/2019-01-faster-co2.html

Faster CO2 rise expected in 2019

January 25, 2019, University of Exeter

Figure 1: Forecast CO₂ concentrations at Mauna Loa over 2019 (orange), along with previous forecast concentrations for 2016 (blue), 2017 (green), 2018 (pink) and Scripps Institute measurements (black). Credit: University of Exeter

With emissions already at a record high, the build-up of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere could be larger than last year due to a slower removal by natural carbon sinks.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-faster-co2.html#jCp

Edited January 27, 2019 by beecee

[Itoero]

On ‎1‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 10:12 PM, beecee said:

The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, uses radiocarbon dating to determine the ages of plants collected at the edges of 30 ice caps on Baffin Island, west of Greenland. The island has experienced significant summertime warming in recent decades.

When I did dogsledding, one of my dogs was called 'Baffin'.  

I'm very curious to how nature will react. Trees and plants can grow bigger/increase in quantity and populate new area's...but plant eating insects as well.

Like the Mountain Pine Beetle in B.C. .https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/managing-our-forest-resources/forest-health/forest-pests/bark-beetles/mountain-pine-beetle