“A team of scientists analyzed three long sediment columns cored from the seafloor off Suriname to determine ancient ocean temperatures.” Mike Millikin tells us that “scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found evidence that tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures may have once reached 107°F (42°C)—about 25°F (14°C) higher than ocean temperatures today and warmer than a hot tub.”
Besides, Diane, ocean levels rising 21 feet if the entire Greenland ice sheet were to melt, climatologists are warning that greenhouse gases could heat the oceans in the future much more than previously thought. “These temperatures are off the charts from what we’ve seen before,” says paleoclimatologist Karen Bice.
“The warmest estimates to date for any place on Earth,” writes Millikin, “occurred millions of year ago when carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere were also high” (My emphasis).” Cultural relevancy quiz time, who recalls the chorus line?
Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette
Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself to death.
Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate
That you hate to make him wait,
But you just gotta have another cigarette.
Written by Merle Travis, 1947
Well, paleoclimatology-wise, folks, forget those plug-in, flex-fuel hybrids. Let’s just make sure that the next oil president knows that he’s got to keep oil prices down by drilling in all those newly exposed places, so we can continue driving those full-size SUVs to our heart’s content. I mean, who should worry, other than all the energy directors, past and present, after Doc Brice delivered the bad news from the test results, “The climate models underestimate temperatures and the amount of warming that would accompany an increase in CO2…”
BTW: Co-generation is combined heat and power. Tri-generation adds cooling to the process. And, whereas now most GSHPs (Ground Source Heat Pumps) rely upon a constant temperature from underground or ponds for heating, in the future it may be access to a constant cooler temperature that will be a way to chill.
- Reference
- Changes in the Velocity Structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Rignot and Kanagaratnam
Science 17 February 2006: 986-990
DOI: 10.1126/science.1121381
