Scientists say Arctic once was tropical

[SouthFloridawx]

I found that article quite interesting as I never would have thought the arctic have a warm tropical climate. I wonder what may have caused this to happen. They mention about carbon dioxide levels being very high. I wonder if something caused a sudden expulsion of CO2 into the atmosphere or if it were a gradual process?

[HenkL]

More info on the PETM can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene-Eocene_Thermal_Maximum

[stormtruth]

Evolution is a theory but its widely accepted as a pretty damn good and accurate one.

[JonathanBelles]

can you imagine going to vacation in antarctica

[Audrey2Katrina]

I didn't know the North Pole was once tropical. Let me clear something out, does this mean that the land in the North Pole didn't move from there over the past 55 million years?

The area of the North Pole sits under the Arctic Ocean... there is no "land" there... just a vast sheet of ice. Either these cores were taken from land areas currently in the arctic, or in shoals near coaslines. Yes the plates have done some shifting over 55 M years; but what is the N. Pole is under considerable water and I doubt the underlying abyss (at least at THAT location) was ever above sea level much less "tropical". Perhaps these are areas that have been there and have shifted to other locations since... I'd have to read up on it.

A2K

[Terrell]

There is an interesting (well at least to me) book called The Life and Death of Planet Earth by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, that talks much about how Earth has lived in the past, including things about her temperature, how she will be in the future, and how she will die (both in terms of life on her, and the planet herself).

In the book it mentions that Earth was warmer in her past, despite Sol being dimmer, as there was more CO2 in the atmosphere. It mentioned also that the CO2 in Earth's atmosphere has declined steadly over Earth's lifetime more than making up for Sol's slow but steady increase in brightness.

Because of this book and other things I've seen on the topic I think it's quite reasonable that Earth was warmer in her past.

[terstorm1012]

can you imagine going to vacation in antarctica

You can actually. There are adventure tours to Antarctica right now.

And one airline used to do excursion flights over Antarctica in the 70s and 80s. Not sure if they still do, there was a nasty air disaster that occured.

[x-y-no]

I didn't know the North Pole was once tropical. Let me clear something out, does this mean that the land in the North Pole didn't move from there over the past 55 million years?

The area of the North Pole sits under the Arctic Ocean... there is no "land" there... just a vast sheet of ice. Either these cores were taken from land areas currently in the arctic, or in shoals near coaslines. Yes the plates have done some shifting over 55 M years; but what is the N. Pole is under considerable water and I doubt the underlying abyss (at least at THAT location) was ever above sea level much less "tropical". Perhaps these are areas that have been there and have shifted to other locations since... I'd have to read up on it.

A2K

Actually the cores were taken from the bottom of the Arctic Sea. The temperature is inferred from the types of plankton, etc, in the sediments.

You are of course correct that the abyssal ocean floor was never land.

[HurricaneBill]

can you imagine going to vacation in antarctica

"I went to the South Pole and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

[Derek Ortt]

its called an equable climate which features a single global hadley cell

Tropics likely were not that much warmer since you cannot have large meridional temperature gradients within a Hadley cell

read ferrell 1990 for more information. Already discussed 16 years ago. Not a new finding at all

[Brent]

can you imagine going to vacation in antarctica

"I went to the South Pole and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

[NoceoTotus]

...Already discussed 16 years ago. Not a new finding at all

Thanks for pointing that out. Saves me the trouble of having to say it. Remembered it from way back but couldn't remember the studies and such related to it.

[bigmike]

Evolution is a theory but its widely accepted as a pretty damn good and accurate one.

Sigh Just as Global Warming is a theory. You can have both sides pull out facts and argue all day about it. Truth is science is clueless about the big scheme of things when it comes to evolution and global warming.

[MGC]

Earth's climate is in a state of constant change. It gets warmer, it gets cooler, it gets wetter, it gets drier. It has been doing this for millions of years. I visited the petrified forest national park in Arizona last summer. Sure did have a forest with some very big trees before the area became a desert. All this happened long before humans started burning fossile fuels.....MGC

[mobilebay]

Earth's climate is in a state of constant change. It gets warmer, it gets cooler, it gets wetter, it gets drier. It has been doing this for millions of years. I visited the petrified forest national park in Arizona last summer. Sure did have a forest with some very big trees before the area became a desert. All this happened long before humans started burning fossile fuels.....MGC

I know, I was there!

[Valkhorn]

Earth's climate is in a state of constant change. It gets warmer, it gets cooler, it gets wetter, it gets drier. It has been doing this for millions of years. I visited the petrified forest national park in Arizona last summer. Sure did have a forest with some very big trees before the area became a desert. All this happened long before humans started burning fossile fuels.....MGC

Doesn't eliminate the fact that fossil fuels are finite and won't last forever, plus not many people would want to voluntarily breathe polluted air.

[gtalum]

Sigh Just as Global Warming is a theory. You can have both sides pull out facts and argue all day about it. Truth is science is clueless about the big scheme of things when it comes to evolution and global warming.

Not exactly. It seems to me that the anti-evolution folks get caught up on the word "theory". There is a Theory of Evolution. It is the theory behind the mechanism of evolution. Evolution itself, however, is an observable fact.

Keep in mind there is also a Theory of Gravity, but we don't sit around discussing whether gravity happens or not. A Theory is not just some wild idea thrown out there for giggles. It is a best-fit picture for the facts that we can observe and measure.

Global warming, like evolution, is a fact and not a theory. The only tehoretical things about GW are how, why, and for how long it's happening. The Earth is, however, measurably warmer on average than it was 100 years ago.