Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Father Terrence who wrote (47111)	7/25/1999 5:13:00 PM
From: Grainne	Respond to of 108807

Actually, Terrence, the melting of the ice caps caused by global warming might cause an Ice Age. The two are intertwined: Flood Cooled Atmosphere in Ice Age By CHRIS KAHN Associated Press Writer Global warming sometimes can lead to cold weather, researchers said today in a report that outlines how a giant flood can trigger a worldwide freeze in a matter of decades. Scientists say that as the glaciers melted at the end of the Ice Age, so much cold fresh water gushed into the North Atlantic 8,200 years ago that it cooled the atmosphere for hundreds of years. The cold spell has been well known to researchers, but its cause was a mystery. The flood scenario, described in today's issue of the journal Nature, demonstrates how global warming can, paradoxically, provoke a global freeze. If a modern glacier such as the Greenland Ice Sheet melts as a result of rising temperatures in the next century, it could trigger a similar flood and climate fluctuation, researchers said. ''Ultimately, that's the interest here,'' said Richard Alley, a climate expert at Penn State University. ''We've been pretty lucky, the climate hasn't varied much in 8,000 years. But could the big changes come back?'' The study by University of Colorado and Canadian researchers examines evidence of a huge flood in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec and Ontario. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered parts of North America with ice up to 2 miles thick for more than a million years. As it retreated toward the poles, the ice sheet left in its wake at least two lakes containing more water than the Great Lakes combined. In the Hudson Bay, ice held the water in place like a plug in a bathtub. But when the plug finally melted, trillions of gallons gushed into the Labrador Sea, shooting out at 100 times the rate water leaves the Mississippi. Independent research showed the temperature dropped significantly within several hundred years of the flood. But nobody could pinpoint if these two events were connected, said the study's lead author, University of Colorado geologist Don Barber. The evidence linking the temperature drop to the flood includes radiocarbon dating of clams in the flood sediment. The Atlantic Gulf Stream normally acts like a conveyor belt to deliver warm tropical water to temperate regions. By adding so much fresh water in such a short time, the flood shut down the Gulf Stream, Alley said. Temperatures in Greenland and Europe dropped by 6 to 15 degrees for at least 200 years, according to ice core data. dailynews.yahoo.com

To: Father Terrence who wrote (47111)	7/25/1999 5:21:00 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Terrence, every year it is getting hotter on the earth! The small island nations are now meeting to try to figure out what they can do to avoid totally disappearing as glacial ice melts and they vanish under the earth's rising oceans. In this Boston Globe editorial are the statistics for 1998: A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL Trying to ignore global warning Last month the Clinton administration quietly asked for postponement of final agreement on the Kyoto global warming treaty until after the presidential election in 2000. The treaty, adopted at the world environmental summit in 1997, left some important issues unresolved, including the role of underdeveloped countries and the details of a system of vouchers that would let nations buy and sell pollution credits. The request for postponement may be understandable politically and technically, but this is no time to fall short in addressing global warming. 1998 was the warmest year on record, according to the World Meterological Organization - the 20th consecutive year with above-normal temperatures. The record holds even after El Nino, a natural phenomenon, is factored out of the statistics. The United States is backtracking on several fronts. President Clinton's budget for fiscal year 2000 requests $4 billion to help reduce global warming, including $3.6 billion in tax incentives for those who buy energy-efficient appliances and cars. That is a cool $1 billion less than Clinton proposed for fiscal year 1999, just after the Kyoto summit. And the United States is failing to meet the goals it agreed to in Kyoto: a reduction in greenhouse gases to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Last year US emissions increased sharply. Meanwhile, mankind continues to cut down forests that absorb carbon gases, burns fossil fuels as if they were an inexhaustible resource, and shrugs off the droughts, fires, floods, warming ocean temperatures, and other effects of climate change that will only become more drastic if temperatures continue to rise. Postponing final agreement on the Kyoto treaty until 2001 would mean that a new president will be making crucial choices. This raises the stakes for Vice President Al Gore, who has made global warming central to his agenda, and for all the other presidential candidates whose views are less well known. It is not too soon to ask probing questions of the men and women who will help decide the fate of the earth. This story ran on page A10 of the Boston Globe on 07/06/99. © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. boston.com