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https://theconversation.com/when-greenland-was-green-ancient-soil-from-beneath-a-mile-of-ice-offers-warnings-for-the-future-209018>
"About 400,000 years ago, large parts of Greenland were ice-free. Scrubby
tundra basked in the Sun’s rays on the island’s northwest highlands. Evidence
suggests that a forest of spruce trees, buzzing with insects, covered the
southern part of Greenland. Global sea level was much higher then, between 20
and 40 feet above today’s levels. Around the world, land that today is home to
hundreds of millions of people was under water.
Scientists have known for awhile that the Greenland ice sheet had mostly
disappeared at some point in the past million years, but not precisely when.
In a new study in the journal
Science, we determined the date, using frozen
soil extracted during the Cold War from beneath a nearly mile-thick section of
the Greenland ice sheet.
The timing – about 416,000 years ago, with largely ice-free conditions lasting
for as much as 14,000 years – is important. At that time, Earth and its early
humans were going through one of the longest interglacial periods since ice
sheets first covered the high latitudes 2.5 million years ago.
The length, magnitude and effects of that natural warming can help us
understand the Earth that modern humans are now creating for the future."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
