Posted on 06/09/2010 11:57:59 AM PDT by decimon
Combination of hi-tech models and paleo-records may hold key to unlocking reason for Anastazi people's migration and other global events
MIAMI June 9, 2010 -- In the time before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, a cooler central Pacific Ocean has been connected with drought conditions in Europe and North America that may be responsible for famines and the disappearance of cliff dwelling people in the American West.
A new study from the University of Miami (UM) has found a connection between La Niña-like sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific and droughts in western Europe and in what later became the southwestern United States and Mexico, as published in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
"We've known for some time the connection between El Niño and La Niña and the weather conditions in North America and Europe," said Robert Burgman, a climate scientist at UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. "La Niña-like conditions, such as those we found, can cause persistent drought, and as we know warm conditions cause increased precipitation."
Using cores of fossil coral from the Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, Burgman and a team used reconstructed sea surface temperatures from the period 1320 to 1462 to simulate medieval climate conditions with a state-of-the-art climate model. When the differences between medieval and modern climate simulations were compared with paleo-records like tree-rings and sediment cores from around the globe, the authors found remarkable agreement.
During the 142-year study period, the sea surface temperature dropped only one-tenth of one degree, but it was enough to cause arid conditions in North America and Europe.
The Anastazi peoplewho lived in dramatic cliff dwellings near what later became known as the "Four Corners" area at the intersection of the state of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizonaleft their settlements at Mesa Verde and other locations some 600 years ago without explanation. A prolonged drought is thought to be one of the contributing factors to their departure.
In Europe, the study period was preceded by three years of torrential rains, which led to the Great Famine from 1315 to 1320, and marked the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age, which began in the mid 1500s. During that time, extreme weather conditions were thought to be responsible for continued localized crop failures and famines throughout Europe during the remainder of the 14th Century.
"The marriage of complex climate models with paleo-records of sea surface temperature and other climate variables provide valuable insight to climate scientists who wish to understand climate variability and change before the instrumental record," said Burgman.
Warning that the Palmyra Atoll data only represents one data point, Burgman emphasized that he would like to test his thesis with data from other oceans. "If we can fill in the gaps with data from corals and other records from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, we'll have a better idea of what has happened to the global climate over time," he added.
In the study, Burgman and his colleagues used the reconstructed tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures to create a 16-member ensemble of atmospheric general circulation model (ACGM) simulations, coupled with a one-layer ocean model outside of the tropical Pacific. When the ACGM simulations were compared with the modern climate simulations, they were able to reproduce many aspects of the medieval climate found in observational records for much of the Western Hemisphere, northern Eurasia, and the northern tropics. These results suggest that many features of global medieval hydroclimate changes can be explained by tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures.
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About the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School
The University of Miami is the largest private research institution in the southeastern United States. The University's mission is to provide quality education, attract and retain outstanding students, support the faculty and their research, and build an endowment for University initiatives. Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, please visit www.rsmas.miami.edu.
Cool waters ping.
AFFECT!
1 archaic : to aim at
2 a archaic : to have affection for b : to be given to : fancy
3 : to make a display of liking or using : cultivate
4 : to put on a pretense of : feign
5 : to tend toward
EFFECT:1 a : purport, intent b : basic meaning : essence
2 : something that inevitably follows an antecedent (as a cause or agent)
3 : an outward sign : appearance
4 : accomplishment, fulfillment
5 : power to bring about a result : influence
6 plural : movable property : goods
7 a : a distinctive impression b : the creation of a desired impression c (1) : something designed to produce a distinctive or desired impression usually used in plural (2) plural : special effects
8 : the quality or state of being operative : operation
ya mean Nature is ever evolving? The Climate is not permanently set in stone? why... does this mean it is not ever-changing as the waves of the sea?
Then, again, it may not have...
“During the 142-year study period, the sea surface temperature dropped only one-tenth of one degree, but it was enough to cause arid conditions in North America and Europe”
1/10th of one degree?? BS meter pegged off the chart.
Cogito Ergo Sum! Cause and effect. A cooler Pacific may have caused a change in the weather in Europe.
I don't think this study was focused on the emotional affectation that the Pacific had on the European's. Of course Magellan was killed and is buried on Guam. Maybe the natives were affected by the White Man! Go figger!
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"...evidence suggesting Asian admixture is found in Zuni biology, lexicon, religion, social organization, and oral traditions of migration. Possible cultural and language links of Zuni to California, the social disruption at the end of the Heian period of the 12th century in Japan, the size of Japanese ships at the time of proposed migration, the cluster of significant changes in the late 13th century in Zuni, all lend further credibility to a relatively late prehistoric contact."
So, what’s the problem? ;’)
“Anastazi people”?? Did they really write that?
The Anastazi people...?
Plus several other mistakes .
That was the East German branch of the Pueblos.
IIRC, the Viking settlements on North America disappeared when the climate cooled in the Middle Ages.
Garbage in/garbage out
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