CO2 'highest for 650,000 years'

[swag]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4467420.stm

By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website

Current levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are higher now than at any time in the last 650,000 years.

That is the conclusion of new European studies looking at ice taken from 3km below the surface of Antarctica.

The scientists say their research shows present day warming to be exceptional.

Other research, also published in the journal Science, suggests that sea levels may be rising twice as fast now as in previous centuries.

. . . more

[Eugene]

1. Reuters: Oceans, greenhouse gases rising faster: reports

Oceans, greenhouse gases rising faster: reports

By Susan Heavey Thu Nov 24, 2:04 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ocean and so-called greenhouse gas levels are
rising faster than they have for thousands of years, according to two
reports published on Thursday that are likely to fuel debate on global
warming.

One study found the Earth's ocean levels have risen twice as fast in
the past 150 years, signaling the impact of human activity on
temperatures worldwide, researchers said in the journal Science.

Sea levels were rising by about 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) every year
about 200 years ago and as far back as 5,000 years, geologists found
from deep sediment samples from the New Jersey coastline. Since then,
levels have risen by about 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) a year.

<snip>

"Half of the current rise ... was going on anyway. But that means
half of what's going on is not background. It's human induced," said
Kenneth Miller, a geology professor at the New Jersey-based school
who led the 15-year effort.

<snip>

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051124/sc_nm/science_warming_dc

[Kagemusha]

2. My question: Then what happened 650,000 years ago?

Pure scientific curiosity demands an answer.

[all.of.me]

3. that was my question, too. what happened back then?!

[Lisa]

6. that's how far back they could go using that particular core ...

Unless they hit rock, there is more ice down there to examine, but maybe they just weren't able to drill down further.

I've heard that it does get a bit harder to date the cores as you go deeper, because the layers are so squished together. So we may not know exactly how old the stuff at the very bottom is.

It would be cool (!) if we could find ice that was tens of millions of years old, but I seem to remember from paleoclimatology class that this is likely not possible. Some buried deposits that go back a few million years have apparently been located -- but it won't be a continuous atmospheric record.

http://www.bu.edu/alumni/bostonia/2000/winter/antarctic/


Apparently there is a core from elsewhere in Antarctica that goes back 720,000 years, but I don't think they've finished analyzing it yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3792209.stm


There was a time called the Eocene, 35+ million years ago, when CO2 levels were apparently near modern ones (maybe even higher) -- but it was so warm that there wasn't much ice on the planet, and trees grew in Antarctica. Very different from today.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html4ever/2004/041227.Huber.Antarctica.html

[tocqueville]

9. nothing really : some seas dried out, some animals died out

The 1.8-1.6 million years of the Quaternary represents the time during which recognizable humans existed. Over this short a time period, the total amount of continental drift was less than 100 km, which is largely irrelevant to paleontology. The major geographical changes during this time period included periodic closing of the Strait of Gibraltar and the subsequent evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea, followed by the breach and flooding of that sea; the periodic closings of the Strait of Bosphorus and Skaggerak, which respectively turned the Black Sea and Baltic Sea into fresh water, followed by their breaches which flooded the former and drained the latter; the periodic filling of the English Channel, forming a land bridge between Britain and Europe; the periodic closing of the Bering Strait, forming the land bridge between Asia and North America; and the periodic flash flooding of Scablands of the American Northwest by glacial water. The Great Lakes and other major lakes of Canada, and Hudson's Bay, are also just the results of the last cycle, and are temporary. Following every other ice age within the Quaternary, there was a different pattern of lakes and bays.

The climate was one of periodic glaciations with continental glaciers moving as far from the poles as 40 degrees latitude. Few major new animals evolved, again presumably because of the short—in geologic terms—duration of the period. There was a major extinction of large mammals in Northern areas at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Many forms such as saber-toothed cats, mammoths, mastodons, glyptodonts, etc., became extinct worldwide. Others, including horses, camels and cheetahs became extinct in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary

[ochazuke]

21. 650,000-year-ago date may have no significance.

I think that the article is not saying that CO2 levels now are like they were 650,000 years ago, but that they are higher now than at any time they could find. And they checked samples that were up to 650,000 years old.

[ToeBot]

25. What he said. The Pleistocene Epoch is noted for ice ages

mostly, some extinctions. Rather the opposite of what humanity will be facing except for the extinction part.

[Clara T]

4. We are in deep trouble

As arrogant humanoids we believe that either our gadgets, our technology or our money can always protect us.

Extinction of all primates can happen.

What is really disturbing is that it is believed that there is a 30-40 year gestation period for these greenhouse gases.

[xchrom]

5. i can't see a good outcome to this.

even if we added no more starting right now -- we seem to be on some sort of precipice.

it's just to be determined how bad the fall.

[AuntiBush]

8. Neither do I. It is not Good.

Not good at all, and this adm has done everything to place it under rugs of corp/greed.

[ochazuke]

19. It's like we're in a car with some drunk frathouse kid at the wheel.

We're 20 feet from a brick wall going 80 miles per hour and he says "am floorin it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!"

[Gregorian]

7. And it all happened in just a very few years.

That is what scares me the most. Because it will take just as long for us to stabilize the situation.
I might add to it that the nations that are joining in the modern living scheme of things, have only just started. So we can expect the situation to increase in severity with great speed, as India and China join the "American dream".

Easier, faster, and bigger have a price tag. This is it. And this doesn't even address food and water.

[lovuian]

10. Ok now we have the proof!!! CMon World lets do something about it!!!

:crazy:

[autorank]

11. If you cannot breathe, you cannot live. One issue more important than

election fraud!

All the heavy weights are coming to the same startling conclusion...we're running out of time fast. The Global Warming debate is no more; it's not a matter of if but when (it has not been an "if" question for a while).

The "when" is really depressing. One study said that by 2030, current levels of pollution would be unsustainable if we wanted to continue to live on this planet. The Lawrence Livermore Labs computer model shows that by 2300 these startling results occur (incrementally):

20 foot rise in sea level--bye bye FL;
40 degree increase in average temperature --this is your brain, this is your brain in the atmosphere;
NO polar caps, none, zip, nada).

So by 2030, we'll all be choking. Those of us who survive until 2300 will be "toast."

This is beyond partisan politics, although partisanship may hold a strong hand in solving the problem.

And, to think, they mocked Al Gore for his concerns about the environment. Those who did should go fuck themselves.

[Robeson]

12. When will the Capitalist Pigs who run this World realize.....

...they can't make a profit, if everyone is dead?

[AntiFascist]

13. We'll probably have to wait a little while....

when Southern Florida starts to go underwater and expensive beachfront properties in California begin to suffer damage then maybe they will take notice. There's also the rare hurricane that can hit New York.

[babylonsister]

17. That 'rare' hurricane to hit NY like NOLA's 'rare' hurricane?

I don't want to think about next summer; I think it's not a question of if we're going to have another 'Katrina', but where will it hit?
I do not have high hopes for summers in the next few years, or winters for that matter. I'm a NYer displaced, but I think every and anyone living on any coast has to be concerned.

[LibertyorDeath]

14. Natures Revenge we've been raping her continually for

hundreds of years and soon she's going to fuck us like
we've never been fucked before. IMO

[progressoid]

15. Must be from all that cow poop right Ronnie?

[MisterP]

16. "killer trees!"--Jim Brady, mocking his boss

[Thom Little]

18. Oceans rise at record rate as industrial age gathers momentum

A study has shown that world sea levels are rising at a rate of 2mm (0.08 inches) a year; double the speed at which levels rose for 5,000 years before the start of the industrial age.

The switch occurred after the mid-19th century, when factories and increased use of coal and later oil started pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Kenneth Miller, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and colleagues produced a new sea level record spanning 100 million years.

.......

Professor Miller said: “The main thing that’s changed since the 19th century and the beginning of modern observation has been the widespread increase in fossil fuel use and more greenhouse gases. Our record therefore provides a new and reliable baseline to use in addressing global warming.”


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1890033,00.html

[Brooklyn Michael]

20. IMPOSSIBLE!!!

*sputter* *sputter*...Why....why....that's impossible! Everyone knows, according to the religious right, that the earth is only 6,000 years old...7 tops!

[natrat]

22. it's really too bad that humans won't get a 2nd chance

evolution or creationism fucked up royally putting us here. Or maybe big extinction events just are,,,and that's the way it is. The beauty of it all vanishing forever is freakin heartbreaking.

[JPZenger]

23. Meanwhile EPA is Going After a Chocolate Smell

While acid rain is a serious problem, and power plants in many parts of the US are still belching out tons of pollutants with little improvement, guess what the Bush Administration's EPA is going after? They are nailing a chocolate manufacturer in Chicago because you can smell chocolate outside the factory.

The reporters interviewed neighbors who all said they like the smell. However, EPA is forcing the company to spend large amounts of money to get rid of the smell.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10194447/

[Gronk Groks]

24. Nice way to visualize the change.

In pictures: How the world is changing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/sci_nat_how_the_world_is_changing/html/1.stm

Argentina's Upsala Glacier was once the biggest in South America, but it is now disappearing at a rate of 200 metres per year.