<the West Greenland Ice Shelf, Once an annual event that froze the sea from Greenland to Newfoundland, It partially formed in 1998 and is essentially nonexistent now. >
I have enjoyed seeing the vast ice over the sea while flying from Europe to Ottawa/USA. As well as the amazing ice sheet over Greenland. There is a LOT of fresh water sitting there. Yet it's a small amount compared with Antarctica.
<Frozen Mastodons in Alaska, some with meat fresh enough it has been eaten. The Ice man discovered frozen in a Glacier in Switzerland. These all indicate near overnight switches in the climate. Not years, not months, not even weeks, but overnight.>
Not overnight, except that the snowfall happens overnight. But the place would have been summery, as "normal", but then autumn would come and the fauna would be at the maximum extent of its range. A never-before snowfall would render the food all covered, the animal would die and the snow would continue to fall. Not melting the following year. Maybe some of the animals might just get through the first heavy winter, but the next, heavier, winter would put paid to them, leaving them fresh to be found in the next big melt.
It's not a matter of what happens in 10,000 years. It's a matter of what might happen in a few years. Or next year. We have only just avoided an ice age. If it means cold weather for Europe, because the gulf stream conks out, too bad. That's a small price to pay to avoid a big freeze for everywhere.
I'd be surprised if the gulf stream conks out. Vast melting happened after the last ice age and it didn't stop the flow, so a piffling bit of flow from Greenland etc isn't going to do it either.
Mqurice |
