Mega-flood triggered cooling 13,000 years ago: scientists

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 3/31/10 | David Fogarty

[NormsRevenge]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Scientists say they have found the trigger of a sharp cooling 13,000 years ago that plunged Europe into a mini ice age.

Mark Bateman from the University of Sheffield in England said a catastrophic flood unleashed from a giant North American lake dumped large amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean.

This led to the shutting down of the Gulf Stream ocean circulation pattern that brings warmth to Europe.

"We're talking about a lake the size of the UK emptying very quickly," Bateman told Reuters by telephone. "We don't know the exact period of time but we're talking about a catastrophic flood."

The finding has confirmed past theories about the likely cause of a sudden cooling period called the Younger Dryas when temperatures in Europe, similar to today's, quickly returned to ice age conditions. The cooling lasted for about 1,400 years.

"Our research shows that if you put a large volume of fresh water into the North Atlantic in a very short space of time, this is what happens," Bateman said. His team's work is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

The Gulf Stream acts like a conveyer belt by bringing warm water from the tropics to Europe while cold salty water sinks to the depths in the far north. This "overturning" circulation draws in yet more warm water from the south.

Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland. This surge in freshwater could trigger a tipping point that overwhelms the Gulf Stream, shutting it down and likely plunging Europe into another deep freeze.

[Red Badger]

"Congratulations Bateman, you re-discovered Lake Agassiz..." Really! Who doesn't already know about this?

I gots a lake?...........

[trad_anglican]

See Fort Rock, OR

Thanks!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

First they say;
“”We’re talking about a lake the size of the UK emptying very quickly,”

Then they say;
“Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland. This surge in freshwater could trigger a tipping point that overwhelms the Gulf Stream, shutting it down “

They ain’t goona get that kinda rapid melting in Greenland, unless the Sun goes nova! And the UK and Europe will melt, instead of going into a deep freeze!

[VanShuyten]

There were several ice dam and other huge lakes after the last ice age. Lake Bonneville in Utah is another example. As you drive along the interstate going south, you can see the old shoreline up on the side of the mountains.

I'm pretty sure there was a large one in eastern Washington, too.

[James C. Bennett]

If Noah was from North America, to witness the flood.

[KSCITYBOY]

theory # 15,001

[RnMomof7]

Exactly

[NormsRevenge]

where have I read about this before ???

-

probably here.. or in the Bible.. or ancient Greek text? :-}

[TXnMA]

"Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland."

First, you gotta have global warming -- ...and that, you ain't got!!!

[numberonepal]

The theory I’ve understood is that there was massive global cooling causing serious hardship across the globe. The extreme cold caused the air to be very dry. While all this is going on a massive ice sheet is piling up on Antarctica. Due to the pressure between the land mass and the ice sheet heating occurs in between. This heat makes the ice slick against the continent and eventually it slides off into the sea. The resulting super tsunami covers the entire globe in water and Noah rides the wave.

[TigersEye]

Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland.

The planet has been warmer than it is now numerous times in the last 14,000 years and that didn't happen. Their theory is not cohesive.

[JustDoItAlways]

“Bateman found that the waters flowed down the Mackenzie River, Canada’s longest, rather than the Saint Lawrence Seaway that had previously seemed the most likely route.”

Bull. Loney.

Ancient Lake Agassiz flowed south to the Missippi River and the Gulf of Mexico (when blocked by the glaciers over Hudson Bay). It could not flow uphill to the Mackenzie Valley or through the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence.

The climatologists get published in Nature and cannot even check an elevation map. Nature cannot even check an elevation map. The rush to support global warming is so strong that they just ignore facts which have been known for 150 years.

The continental divide is at Browns Valley Minnesota. North of Brown’s Valley, the water flows into Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean. South of Browns Valley, the water flows south into the Gulf Mexico.

Brown’s Valley is only 200 feet higher than Lake Winnipeg and whenever the glaciers blocked access to Hudson Bay for melt water, it flowed south. The ancient river valley Warren is easily seen on topographic maps.

You can see the river channel and even the shoreline of Lake Agassiz at the top of this picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:River_Warren_Valley.gif

[celmak]

"...or ancient Greek text?"

Greek text too? I'd like to read that, which has a catastrophic flood?

[AFPhys]

Seems to me that there is no actual evidence of excessive warming in the Arctic during the last five-eight years.

[metmom]

Nice graph.

[metmom]

The problem with the sky-is-falling climate change alarmists is that there is no way that there could possibly be an
influx of fresh water of that magnitude from ice cap melt.

The ice caps just aren’t going to melt that fast.

The scenario that the article is describing would be more likely to happen in a situation like a dam bursting, not runoff from ice melt.

[centurion316]

Satellite observations and computer models by scientists have shown that the Greenland ice sheet is melting at an accelerating rate, dumping large amounts of ice and meltwater into the North Atlantic.

No, its melting at a rate well within recent historic norms. On the other hand, the meltwater from the retreat of the North American continential glacial shield was a volume of water beyond all comprehension. The Great Lakes are the tiny puddles that were left over in the low spots. If this release was sudden, as occurred with the flooding of the Black Sea through the Bosphorus Strait, or the breach of the ice dam at Lake Missoula; then it was a truly significant event that may indeed have disrupted the Gulf Stream. The piddly little melting of today can do no such thing.

And they wonder why the public no longer takes them seriously.

[SaraJohnson]

It was Algore flying his plane around too much that caused the flood with global warming. Then he made the planet freeze because after it warms from human energy use sin, it always freezes. Everyone knows this! The science is settled and anyone who refuses to turn their cash and freedom over to Algore and his global Marxist pals is worse than the Nazis. ;)

[NormsRevenge]

fwiw

more recent - 3 to 3.5K years ago
Deucalion and the flood
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0815317.html

many thousand years ago
Plato had his flood too
which wiped Atlantis out

Ain’t the internet search engine nifty? ;-)

[Paul Pierett]

Where do you find this stuff?

I have a bibliography on the last Ice Age that’s about 80 pages long with credible written research by the top people in the field. How did this get passed security and peer review?

There needs to be a MT Rushmore type image with hanson, gore, mann and that feller who heads up the IPCC. We will call it Mt Hockey Stick. Add this one to it.

Paul