Posted on 08/26/2006 4:38:50 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Stefan Magnusson lives at the foot of a giant, melting glacier. Some think he's living on the brink of a cataclysm. He believes he's on the cusp of creation.
The 49-year-old reindeer rancher says a warming trend in Greenland over the past decade has caused the glacier on his farm to retreat 300 feet, revealing land that hasn't seen the light of day for hundreds of years, if not more. Where ice once gripped the earth, he says, his reindeer now graze on wild thyme amid the purple blooms of Niviarsiaq flowers.
The melting glacier near Mr. Magnusson's home is pouring more water into the river, which he hopes soon to harness for hydroelectricity.
"We are seeing genesis by the edge of the glacier," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
ping
1,000 years ago Greenland was warmer than it is today. Grazing lands were more widespread then than now.
Climate change is taking place, yes.
It is natural, however, and has happened before!
Can another Little Ice Age be far behind?
The Vikings must have called it Greenland for some reason.
Funny, but all I was ever taught in school was that "Greenland" was a misnomer, because it was all ice and snow . Of course, my teachers never mentioned the fact that there was warming 1000 years before.
Overall elevation change over 11 years
Yes, "Greenland" was a deliberate misnomer to trick people into settling there. Greenland, however, did have a large green zone 1,000 year ago than today.
Here's the story in a nutshell: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16928
Fascinating! Thank you.
He also examines modern day Montana, Easter Island, the Pictcairn and Henderson Islands, The Anasazi, Maya, Rwanda, Dominican Republic and Haiti, and others. It takes more than a rainy weekend to read through this comprehensive study. Professor Diamond was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for his other readable and noteable work: ''Guns, Germs, and Steel.'' He is a professor of geography at UCLA.
I will check it out. I've always loved history. :)
At some point, the solar output will fall back to a lower level. Temperatures will drop.
The oceans, being warm, will still evaporate considerable amounts of water ....that will condense and fall as ....gasp...snow in the colder climates....
You can see where this is heading. Don't lose your your longjohns.
Hilarious! Olaf the Loud kept his mouth shut long enough to get back to Elga--- who must have had some pretty big grapes of her own.
I love all of that Viking Saga stuff. I had to read part of the Vinland Saga in Old Norse in graduate school (yes, it was difficult!), and found it fascinating.
Still, I think the best saga is Burning Njal's Saga, especially the fight scene on the ice. I haven't read it in a few years, but it was very entertaining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nj%C3%A1l%27s_saga
I know there is a press in Iceland that still publishes all of the great sagas in relatively inexpensive hardback editions. For the life of me I can't think of the press' name! Argh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sagas_of_Iceland
It this a Rhododendron sp?
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