Henry Pollack, emeritus professor of geophysics at the University of Michigan studies the temperature change in the North and South Poles because he thinks they are the best indicators of global trends.
“The warming over the globe is not uniform by any means,” Pollack said. “The Poles are the canaries in the coal mines,” he said when he spoke at the U on Tuesday, March 18.
Pollack, who has a Ph.D in geophysics and was a member of the panel that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, talked about climate and global warming with the audience, focusing on misconceptions about the climate and the difference between the North and South Poles.
Pollack’s lecture focused on the ice melt happening in the arctic.
He said the exponential differences between the arctic and antarctic affect climate change in these areas. The arctic area supports a population, whereas the antarctic does not. Shoreline erosion, the melting of areas that meet with the ocean, poses a greater threat in the arctic areas and has already caused some towns to move as far as a kilometer inward to avoid being overwhelmed by the ocean.
Pollack also addressed public misconceptions of global warming. He said year-to-year trends fluctuate, but the graphs’ lines of best fit show a dramatic increase in the earth’s temperature since the mid-19th century.
Though it has become a stereotypical element of climate change, Pollack said climate change does affect animals that live in the arctic, specifically seals and polar bears. Pollack said the warming is causing a breakage in sea ice, which stays above the water when it becomes frozen — and greatly affects the eating and breeding habits of both animals.
In the last 100 years, the amount of time it takes to travel by ship through the Northwest Passage has changed drastically. The first trip through the path began in 1903 and took years. In 2012, the same trip only took Pollack three weeks.
“And it wasn’t because we had a better ship — it was because there was no ice,” he said.
Glaciers everywhere are melting, as is a large portion of Greenland. One glacier in specific, Jakobshavn, which lies west of Greenland, has reached a point where its melting is severe enough to cause it to move over 40 meters per day. Pollack said some of the melting in the arctic has become so serious there are summers with no sea ice at all.
Jake Flanigan, a graduate student in Earth sciences, said the presentation gave him a whole new idea not only of climate, but also of the world map in general.
“I really liked the projection on the Northern part,” he said. “It was really surprising to see how close Canada is to Russia if you go across the North.”
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Pollack: ice melt affects arctic life
Geophysicist Henry Pollack, an emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, lectures on the effects of diminishing sea ice on the arctic region such as shoreline erosion, permafrost melting and glacier movement. Photo by Erin Burns.
March 18, 2014
rwayford • Mar 19, 2014 at 5:05 pm
“The arctic area supports a population, whereas the antarctic does not.”
Um, professor, what are a dozen different varietals of penguins, then?
Chopped liver?
Not to mention the HOST of aquatic life
which they predate upon and/or
which predates upon them?
“Shoreline erosion, the melting of areas that meet with the ocean…”
conveniently ignores the ARCTIC Sea Level DROP
shown in the NOAA SL map-site; (also, in Hudson Bay.)
Last I heard, Warmer water occupied MORE volume, not less…
“…year-to-year trends fluctuate, but the graphs’ lines of best fit show a
dramatic increase in the earth’s temperature since the mid-19th century”
…when the Little Ice Age ended and the phenomenon,
known in TRUE Climate Scholar’s circles as,
the Inter-(Get it?)-Glacial (melting) Era’s
99.72% NATURAL GW resumed.
“Though it has become a stereotypical element of Climate Change,
Pollack said Climate Change does affect animals that live in the arctic…”
such as these:
“Sea ice decline and permafrost thaw create goose habitat in Arctic Alaska”
“Juneau Empire.com” Posted: January 24, 2014
“…the USGS, they have found the geese AREN’T CHANGING LOCATION BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF HABITAT, BUT BECAUSE OF THE CREATION OF NEW HABITAT.”
Warmer Climate has certain benefits, which
Woe-Is-Me “climatologists” fail to count
…ever. (Does not Confirm their creepy Bias 😉
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Now, THAT HAVING BEEN SAID,
the Arctic IS experiencing LOCAL Warming…
even as Globally, the rate of Temp. CHANGE
during the latest 15 years of this
–the latest (Holocene) Interglacial Warming–
has plateaued, or “Paused”, as the UN-IPCC
nosebleeder’s report wails in lament.
Why?
“Giant plumes of methane bubbling to surface of Arctic Ocean”
Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News December 14, 2011 “The Sideshow”
Russian scientists have discovered HUNDREDS OF PLUMES OF METHANE GAS,
SOME 1000 METERS IN DIAMETER,
BUBBLING TO THE SURFACE OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
Scientists are concerned that as the Arctic Shelf recedes,
the unprecedented levels of gas released could
greatly accelerate global climate change.
“Earlier we found torch-like structures like
this but they were only tens of meters in diameter,” he said.
“This is the first time that we’ve found
continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures,
more than 1,000 metres in diameter.
It’s amazing.”
Semiletov said that while his research team has discovered more than 100 plumes,
THEY ESTIMATE THERE TO BE “THOUSANDS” OVER THE WIDER AREA,
extending from the Russian mainland to the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.
“In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles,
we have counted more than 100 fountains, or torch-like structures,
bubbling through the water column and
injected directly into the atmosphere
FROM THE SEABED,” Semiletov said.
“We carried out checks at about 115 stationary
points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale
— I think on a scale not seen before.
Some plumes were a kilometer or more wide and the
emissions went directly into the atmosphere
— the concentration was a hundred times higher than normal.”
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The above are 35 million year old FACTS,
nothing to do with man; was photographed
and reported over two years ago.
This is utterly APART from the
massive GHG rise YET TO BE EXPECTED
_when_ the permafrost begins really melting,
although there’s evidence in
snowier-but-not-technically-Arctic areas
that the scrubby/brushy undergrowth
RAPIDLY rebounds, gobbling CO2 as it does.
Anyone still averse to fracking the Arctic
–To REDUCE these NATURAL emissions of true pollutants?–
has not understood the nature of LOCAL
(not-Global, the rise of which has plateaued,despite the Arctic’s DOUBLED rate!) Temperature CHANGE there CAUSING ICE TO MELT AT AN ALARMING RATE:
NatGas is 87% CH4 (methane).
CH4 has 72X times the GWP (Global Warming Potential) of CO2 for the1st 20 years!
For the next 80 years, it tapers to 25X the GWP (CarbonDioxide:1);
but, Cold Seeps from the time of Columbus still have
7.6 X the GWP of the plant sustenance CH4 oxidizes into,
that is, the TOP TWO GHG’s:
H2O (water vapor is 75-95% of all GHEffect; a.k.a. albeit poorly/incorrectly modeled) AND
CO2 (which is NOT pollution; ask any Botanical Entity the Brant’s now-feed upon.)
CH4 truly IS a pollutant,
whereas Alarmists
chase their CH4’s tailings,
CO2 & H2O, (a.k.a., CLOUDS), et al.
rwayford • Mar 19, 2014 at 5:05 pm
“The arctic area supports a population, whereas the antarctic does not.”
Um, professor, what are a dozen different varietals of penguins, then?
Chopped liver?
Not to mention the HOST of aquatic life
which they predate upon and/or
which predates upon them?
“Shoreline erosion, the melting of areas that meet with the ocean…”
conveniently ignores the ARCTIC Sea Level DROP
shown in the NOAA SL map-site; (also, in Hudson Bay.)
Last I heard, Warmer water occupied MORE volume, not less…
“…year-to-year trends fluctuate, but the graphs’ lines of best fit show a
dramatic increase in the earth’s temperature since the mid-19th century”
…when the Little Ice Age ended and the phenomenon,
known in TRUE Climate Scholar’s circles as,
the Inter-(Get it?)-Glacial (melting) Era’s
99.72% NATURAL GW resumed.
“Though it has become a stereotypical element of Climate Change,
Pollack said Climate Change does affect animals that live in the arctic…”
such as these:
“Sea ice decline and permafrost thaw create goose habitat in Arctic Alaska”
“Juneau Empire.com” Posted: January 24, 2014
“…the USGS, they have found the geese AREN’T CHANGING LOCATION BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF HABITAT, BUT BECAUSE OF THE CREATION OF NEW HABITAT.”
Warmer Climate has certain benefits, which
Woe-Is-Me “climatologists” fail to count
…ever. (Does not Confirm their creepy Bias 😉
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Now, THAT HAVING BEEN SAID,
the Arctic IS experiencing LOCAL Warming…
even as Globally, the rate of Temp. CHANGE
during the latest 15 years of this
–the latest (Holocene) Interglacial Warming–
has plateaued, or “Paused”, as the UN-IPCC
nosebleeder’s report wails in lament.
Why?
“Giant plumes of methane bubbling to surface of Arctic Ocean”
Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News December 14, 2011 “The Sideshow”
Russian scientists have discovered HUNDREDS OF PLUMES OF METHANE GAS,
SOME 1000 METERS IN DIAMETER,
BUBBLING TO THE SURFACE OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
Scientists are concerned that as the Arctic Shelf recedes,
the unprecedented levels of gas released could
greatly accelerate global climate change.
“Earlier we found torch-like structures like
this but they were only tens of meters in diameter,” he said.
“This is the first time that we’ve found
continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures,
more than 1,000 metres in diameter.
It’s amazing.”
Semiletov said that while his research team has discovered more than 100 plumes,
THEY ESTIMATE THERE TO BE “THOUSANDS” OVER THE WIDER AREA,
extending from the Russian mainland to the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.
“In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles,
we have counted more than 100 fountains, or torch-like structures,
bubbling through the water column and
injected directly into the atmosphere
FROM THE SEABED,” Semiletov said.
“We carried out checks at about 115 stationary
points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale
— I think on a scale not seen before.
Some plumes were a kilometer or more wide and the
emissions went directly into the atmosphere
— the concentration was a hundred times higher than normal.”
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The above are 35 million year old FACTS,
nothing to do with man; was photographed
and reported over two years ago.
This is utterly APART from the
massive GHG rise YET TO BE EXPECTED
_when_ the permafrost begins really melting,
although there’s evidence in
snowier-but-not-technically-Arctic areas
that the scrubby/brushy undergrowth
RAPIDLY rebounds, gobbling CO2 as it does.
Anyone still averse to fracking the Arctic
–To REDUCE these NATURAL emissions of true pollutants?–
has not understood the nature of LOCAL
(not-Global, the rise of which has plateaued,despite the Arctic’s DOUBLED rate!) Temperature CHANGE there CAUSING ICE TO MELT AT AN ALARMING RATE:
NatGas is 87% CH4 (methane).
CH4 has 72X times the GWP (Global Warming Potential) of CO2 for the1st 20 years!
For the next 80 years, it tapers to 25X the GWP (CarbonDioxide:1);
but, Cold Seeps from the time of Columbus still have
7.6 X the GWP of the plant sustenance CH4 oxidizes into,
that is, the TOP TWO GHG’s:
H2O (water vapor is 75-95% of all GHEffect; a.k.a. albeit poorly/incorrectly modeled) AND
CO2 (which is NOT pollution; ask any Botanical Entity the Brant’s now-feed upon.)
CH4 truly IS a pollutant,
whereas Alarmists
chase their CH4’s tailings,
CO2 & H2O, (a.k.a., CLOUDS), et al.