http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3491659a10,00.html

New signs of a world in peril

26 November 2005

Staff Reporter and Reuters


Rising temperatures trigger a runaway melt of Greenland's ice sheet,
raising sea levels and drowning Pacific islands and cities from New
York to Tokyo.

At present it is still a theory, but disaster scenarios like this have
taken on a new urgency with the release of two studies providing
powerful evidence for global warming because of man's impact on the
Earth.

Ocean levels are now rising at 2mm a year -- twice as fast as they
were 150 years ago, according to a study at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.

And a separate project in the Antarctic has found there is more carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere now than at any point during the last
650,000 years.

The Rutgers University study found that sea levels rose consistently
for 5000 years till the start of the industrial age.

The switch occurred after the mid-19th century when factories and
vehicles started pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Professor Kenneth Miller, who led the team which made the discovery,
said:

"The main thing that's changed since the 19th century and the
beginning of modern observation has been the widespread increase in
fossil fuel use and more greenhouse gases.

"Our record therefore provides a new and reliable baseline to use in
addressing global warming."

The other team of scientists, led by Professor Ed Brook at Oregon
State University, extended the Earth's climate record by more than
200,000 years by looking at ancient bubbles in Antarctic ice cores.

Researchers could look back 650,000 years for signs of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The findings confirm that levels of greenhouse gases have risen
dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.

Professor Miller's work involved drilling core samples along the New
Jersey coast which showed a steady millimetre-a-year rise in ocean
level from 5000 years ago to about 200 years ago.

Sea-level measurements since 1850 from tidal gauges, and more recently
satellite images, revealed the current 2mm annual rise.

"Without reliable information on how sea levels had changed before we
had our new measures, we couldn't be sure the current rate wasn't
happening all along," Professor Miller said.

"Now, with solid historical data, we know it is definitely a recent
phenomenon."

Professor Brook said his study of Antarctic ice cores also made it
clear that the conditions of the past 200 years were unusual.

"The levels of primary greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon
dioxide and nitrous oxide are up dramatically since the Industrial
Revolution, at a speed and magnitude that the Earth has not seen in
hundreds of thousands of years. There is now no question this is due
to human influence."

New Zealand scientists from Victoria University, GNS Science and the
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research are also studying
greenhouse gases from ice cores in Antarctica.

Victoria University scientist Nancy Bertler said from Scott Base
yesterday that the Kiwi team was studying air bubbles from shallower
cores in the margins of Antarctica.

Its research complemented that done by the Epica (European project for
ice coring in Antarctica) group.

The gas bubbles captured samples of the atmosphere from between 10,000
and 15,000 years ago.

"We are doing this because they have a higher resolution record."

The group had also been working on a core drilled in the slopes of Mt
Erebus, where they could get high-resolution records going back about
2000 years.

The scientists were resurveying three sites and would be drilling two
more cores in the coming season, Dr Bertler said.

The new research findings will be debated next week at an
international climate change conference in Montreal.

About 190 countries will debate how to expand a United Nations-led
fight against global warming to include developing nations such as
China and India and sceptic countries, led by the United States and
Australia.

One focus will be 'tipping point' scenarios, such as a Greenland ice
sheet melt, a permafrost thaw in Siberia, or the dying off of the
Amazon rain forest.

__________________________________________________________

Harry

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3491659a10,00.html

New signs of a world in peril

26 November 2005

Staff Reporter and Reuters


Rising temperatures trigger a runaway melt of Greenland's ice sheet,
raising sea levels and drowning Pacific islands and cities from New
York to Tokyo.

At present it is still a theory, but disaster scenarios like this have
taken on a new urgency with the release of two studies providing
powerful evidence for global warming because of man's impact on the
Earth.

Ocean levels are now rising at 2mm a year -- twice as fast as they
were 150 years ago, according to a study at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3491659a10,00.html

New signs of a world in peril

26 November 2005

Staff Reporter and Reuters


Rising temperatures trigger a runaway melt of Greenland's ice sheet,
raising sea levels and drowning Pacific islands and cities from New
York to Tokyo.

At present it is still a theory, but disaster scenarios like this have
taken on a new urgency with the release of two studies providing
powerful evidence for global warming because of man's impact on the
Earth.

Ocean levels are now rising at 2mm a year -- twice as fast as they
were 150 years ago, according to a study at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.

And a separate project in the Antarctic has found there is more carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere now than at any point during the last
650,000 years.

The Rutgers University study found that sea levels rose consistently
for 5000 years till the start of the industrial age.

The switch occurred after the mid-19th century when factories and
vehicles started pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Professor Kenneth Miller, who led the team which made the discovery,
said:

"The main thing that's changed since the 19th century and the
beginning of modern observation has been the widespread increase in
fossil fuel use and more greenhouse gases.

"Our record therefore provides a new and reliable baseline to use in
addressing global warming."

The other team of scientists, led by Professor Ed Brook at Oregon
State University, extended the Earth's climate record by more than
200,000 years by looking at ancient bubbles in Antarctic ice cores.

Researchers could look back 650,000 years for signs of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The findings confirm that levels of greenhouse gases have risen
dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.

Professor Miller's work involved drilling core samples along the New
Jersey coast which showed a steady millimetre-a-year rise in ocean
level from 5000 years ago to about 200 years ago.

Sea-level measurements since 1850 from tidal gauges, and more recently
satellite images, revealed the current 2mm annual rise.

"Without reliable information on how sea levels had changed before we
had our new measures, we couldn't be sure the current rate wasn't
happening all along," Professor Miller said.

"Now, with solid historical data, we know it is definitely a recent
phenomenon."

Professor Brook said his study of Antarctic ice cores also made it
clear that the conditions of the past 200 years were unusual.

"The levels of primary greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon
dioxide and nitrous oxide are up dramatically since the Industrial
Revolution, at a speed and magnitude that the Earth has not seen in
hundreds of thousands of years. There is now no question this is due
to human influence."

New Zealand scientists from Victoria University, GNS Science and the
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research are also studying
greenhouse gases from ice cores in Antarctica.

Victoria University scientist Nancy Bertler said from Scott Base
yesterday that the Kiwi team was studying air bubbles from shallower
cores in the margins of Antarctica.

Its research complemented that done by the Epica (European project for
ice coring in Antarctica) group.

The gas bubbles captured samples of the atmosphere from between 10,000
and 15,000 years ago.

"We are doing this because they have a higher resolution record."

The group had also been working on a core drilled in the slopes of Mt
Erebus, where they could get high-resolution records going back about
2000 years.

The scientists were resurveying three sites and would be drilling two
more cores in the coming season, Dr Bertler said.

The new research findings will be debated next week at an
international climate change conference in Montreal.

About 190 countries will debate how to expand a United Nations-led
fight against global warming to include developing nations such as
China and India and sceptic countries, led by the United States and
Australia.

One focus will be 'tipping point' scenarios, such as a Greenland ice
sheet melt, a permafrost thaw in Siberia, or the dying off of the
Amazon rain forest.

__________________________________________________________

Harry

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3491659a10,00.html

New signs of a world in peril

26 November 2005