From EurekAlert
International Greenland ice coring effort sets new drilling record in 2009
Ancient ice cores expected to help scientists assess risks of abrupt climate change in future
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  IMAGE: Atmospheric gases trapped in ancient ice recovered during the international North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling, or NEEM, project are expected to help scientists better assess the risks of abrupt climate…
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A new international research effort on the Greenland ice sheet with the University of Colorado at Boulder as the lead U.S. institution set a record for single-season deep ice-core drilling this summer, recovering more than a mile of ice core that is expected to help scientists better assess the risks of abrupt climate change in the future.
The project, known as the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling, or NEEM, is being undertaken by 14 nations and is led by the University of Copenhagen. The goal is to retrieve ice from the last interglacial episode known as the Eemian Period that ended about 120,000 years ago. The period was warmer than today, with less ice in Greenland and 15-foot higher sea levels than present — conditions similar to those Earth faces as it warms in the coming century and beyond, said CU-Boulder Professor Jim White, who is leading the U.S. research contingent.
While three previous Greenland ice cores drilled in the past 20 years covered the last ice age and the period of warming to the present, the deeper ice layers representing the warm Eemian and the period of transition to the ice age were compressed and folded, making them difficult to interpret, said White. Radar measurements taken through the ice sheet from above the NEEM site indicate the Eemian ice layers below are thicker, more intact and likely contain more accurate, specific information, he said.
“Every time we drill a new ice core, we learn a lot more about how Earth’s climate functions,” said White, “The Eemian period is the best analog we have for future warming on Earth.”
Annual ice layers formed over millennia in Greenland by compressed snow reveal information on past temperatures and precipitation levels and the contents of ancient atmospheres, said White, who directs CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Ice cores exhumed during previous drilling efforts revealed abrupt temperature spikes of more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit in just 50 years in the Northern Hemisphere.
The NEEM team reached a depth of 5,767 feet in early August, where ice layers date to 38,500 years ago during a cold glacial period preceding the present interglacial, or warm period. The team hopes to hit bedrock at 8,350 feet at the end of next summer, reaching ice deposited during the warm Eemian period that lasted from roughly 130,000 to 120,000 years ago before the planet began to cool and ice up once again.
The NEEM project began in 2008 with the construction of a state-of-the-art facility, including a large dome, the drilling rig for extracting 3-inch-diameter ice cores, drilling trenches, laboratories and living quarters. The official drilling started in June of this year. The United States is leading the laboratory analysis of atmospheric gases trapped in bubbles within the NEEM ice cores, including greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, said White.
The NEEM project is led by the University of Copenhagen’s Centre of Ice and Climate directed by Professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen. The United States and Denmark are the two leading partners in the project. The U.S. effort is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.
“Evidence from ancient ice cores tell us that when greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, the climate warms,” said White. “And when the climate warms, ice sheets melt and sea levels rise. If we see comparable rises in sea level in the future like we have seen in the ice-core record, we can pretty much say good-bye to American coastal cities like Miami, Houston, Norfolk, New Orleans and Oakland.”
Increased warming on Earth also has a host of other potentially deleterious effects, including changes in ecosystems, wildlife extinctions, the growing spread of disease, potentially catastrophic heat waves and increases in severe weather events, according to scientists.
While ice cores pinpoint abrupt climate change events as Earth has passed in and out of glacial periods, the warming trend during the present interglacial period is caused primarily by human activities like fossil fuel burning, White said. “What makes this warming trend fundamentally different from past warming events is that this one is driven by human activity and involves human responsibility, morals and ethics.”
Other nations involved in the project include the United States, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Other CU-Boulder participants in the NEEM effort include INSTAAR postdoctoral researcher Vasilii Petrenko and Environmental Studies Program doctoral student Tyler Jones. Other U.S. institutions collaborating in the international NEEM effort include Oregon State University, Penn State, the University of California, San Diego and Dartmouth College.
For more information on the NEEM project, including images and video, visit http://www.neem.ku.dk.
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Oh Gag me. This worthwhile research is being conducted by such an idiot? Ugh.
“And when the climate warms, ice sheets melt and sea levels rise. If we see comparable rises in sea level in the future like we have seen in the ice-core record, we can pretty much say good-bye to American coastal cities like Miami, Houston, Norfolk, New Orleans and Oakland.”
That’s right Prof White! And as it’s happening, we are all going to be sitting around with are thumbs hidden in our orifices not knowing what to do and blaming everyone but ourselves for our predicament. Should we be looking for sudden & predictable decreases in shore front properties values in conjunction with the inundation of many coastal cities?
Of course you did say “if.” Was that a 50/50 “if” or maybe a 1000 to 1 “if”?
I began reading a paper today:
Tree-ring crossdates for a First Millennium AD advance of Tebenkof
David J. Barclaya, Gregory C. Wilesb and Parker E. Calkinc
The crux of it is that while the Tebenkof glacier (Alaska) has been receding since about 1900, it has been exposing trees (discovered in 1935) from a forest the glacier had advanced through. There were apparently two major periods of advance. The oldest of the trees discovered had started their growth in the AD 220s. They all ended their growth in the 710’s and 720’s. The ice apparently didn’t remain long at the terminal location of this advance as there is no moraine established there. Trees were recolonizing the area by the AD 950s.
A more extensive advance occurred in two phases during the LIA. The first phase advanced through forest sometime between the 1280’s and 1320’s. The more recent second phase pushed through forest in the 1640’s and 1650’s. It apparently maintained this maximum extent for about 200 years before starting its retreat. There is an absolute boundary whereby the maximum extent could not have reached as there is an 800yo tree living just beyond the terminal moraine of the second LIA advance.
The ice then began a retreat receding some 250-350m by 1910, 300m more by 1935, 500m more by 1964, and a total of 1.6km from its LIA maximum in 1984.
The point being that as the glacier has receded since 1900 it has exposed trees that prove the area had been forested in the past. The area being exposed now has been exposed in the not-so-distant past. Also, this first millennium advance was not limited to Northern North America. The timing also coincides with glacial advances (also dated with growth ring correlation) in the European Alps.
What we are experiencing is not “human induced warming”, it is “recovery from the Little Ice Age” that is happening at the same time as human population expansion.
Of course this warming period is totally unlike all the previous warm periods!!! Just take our word for it :^)
I read this and all I could think of was a comment from a past submitter:
oooh ah ooo ee ting tang walla walla bing bang!
Lance @12:15:09
Oh fer cryin’ out loud. At this point in time, you gotta be desperate to call that cycle 23 specklette a Sun spot.
The paleo data shows that the Eemian peaked about 125,000 years ago with temperatures 1.5C higher than today and with CO2 levels peaking around the same time at 279 ppm.
The ice age reached a low point about 157,000 years ago with temperatures -4.6C lower than today and CO2 at 185 ppm.
The total contribution of CO2 to the temperature change of 6.1C in just 32,000 years ranges from a low of 0.9C to a high of 1.9C.
Obviously, there are more issues to consider with the climate than just CO2 since more than two-thirds of the temperature change during that ice age was due to something else.
“Evidence from ancient ice cores tell us that when greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, the climate warms,”
“And when the climate warms, ice sheets melt and sea levels rise. …”
Since the dawn of man, when the 1st fire was lit anthropogenically, the die was cast.
Man had to first find his way across the world to populate it. Then he had to burn the land to support agriculture, civilization, industrialization, science and finally…
doomed to extinction, man must find his way off the planet as the sands of AGW run out the hourglass. It all started with the invention of fire, the forbidden fruit. It ends in a roasted planet choked with Sulphuric Acid rain and 800F temps.
Hmmm….did we originally come from Venus?
Mars Colony or bust.
New AGW scare film to be released this fall. It’s called, “The Age of Stupid.” It’s the story of an archivist in the year 2055 looking back at the climate change disaster caused by failure to act. Academy Award winner Pete Postlethwaite stars.
Isn’t this film about 4 years too late? Of course, if it fails in theaters, they can always force all the little kiddies to watch (and induce as yet unnamed new childhood phobias).
“What makes this warming trend fundamentally different from past warming events is that this one is driven by human activity and involves human responsibility, morals and ethics.”
This is the obligatory comment because the thinking person realizes that – wait – you mean to tell me that the climate was warmer, there was less ice & sea level was higher – all without the help of mankind in the past. So why are we so sure “it is mankind’s fault”? Yep, the thinking people will be the undoing of this whole AGW thing.
And of course, this whole realization of past climates is why most geoscientists (myself included) are skeptics (and proud of it).
How can this bloke seriously say: “There, there was a doomesday many thousands of years ago, and here we are, now, facing another doomesday” without seeing the error in his argument.
Well, not error, exactly; rather an over-looked obvious consequence of his argument.
Indeed, KimW @13:27:13, what evidence does he have to attribute current warming to humans?
As the little boy who said, “The Emperor has NO clothes on!” I will say,
and continue to say..
THE TEMPERATURE PROXY USED IN THE ICE CORES IS BOGUS!
It is based on the O18 to 016 numbers.
These ONLY indicate the number of tropical thunderstorms in costal regions and DO NOT REPRESENT “temperature” per see.
THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!
Should note: That is per season(s) in my O16/O18 comment.
White said……….. “What makes this warming trend fundamentally different from past warming events is that this one is driven by human activity and involves human responsibility, morals and ethics.”
————————————————————
What evidence does he base that statement on?
……and empirical evidence please. Not computer generated thought experiments based on manipulated data and fudge factors.
Robert Wood (17:08:05) :
Wooo there dude…
I never stated it was solar cycle 23!! I merely mentioned that having checked http://www.solarcycle24.com mentioned a ‘speck’ was spotted.
I believe you meant to quote crosspatch (12:47:51) :
however, does anyone know if it faded?
They set a record for drilling speed?
Anyone consider the contamination this might incur?
DaveE.
Bill Illis:
It is not clear to me how you derived these numbers but the upper end of your estimate (that about 1/3 of the temperature change is due to CO2) is in almost perfect agreement with what James Hansen estimates for the contribution of CO2 on the basis of comparing the various forcings between the last glacial maximum (LGM) and now. And, from his estimates of the total forcings compared to the observed temperature change, he derives his estimate of the Charney climate sensitivity as being ~0.75 C / [W/m^2], or ~ 3 C per CO2 doubling.
As to your musing about what the “something else” is that caused the other 2/3, the biggest contribution would be from the albedo change associated with the changes in the ice sheets and vegetation, with lesser contributions from changes in aerosol levels and changes in other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. (The ice sheet growth and shrinkage itself is initiated by the Milankovitch oscillations in the earth’s orbital parameters, but these changes do not have any significant direct effect on the annual global mean forcing…It just changes the distribution of the solar irradiance in location and time of year.) See here for details: http://naturalscience.com/ns/articles/01-16/ns_jeh2.html
OT On tamino’s blog open mind the following comment is made
“But of course it’s possible sea level rise could be more; the simple model doesn’t allow for nonlinear behavior of the system, in particular it doesn’t anticipate accelerating disintegration of large ice sheets. ”
To which I replied but equally it’s possible sea level rise could be less, particularly if there is no accelerating disintegration of ice sheets
This comment however did not pass moderation. Why on earth not? It is hardly contentious just noting that it is equally possible that sea levels will not rise. Where is the harm in posting that?
I doubt this will pass moderation either. If your readers don’t already I suggest they have a look at open mind which is a total misnomer and is home to the smuggest, self-satisfied, “we know best” brigade I have ever encountered anywhere
“however, does anyone know if it faded?”
According to the STEREO pictures, it looks about the same as it did earlier.
And I based my presumption of it being a cycle 23 spot on its position, not on its magnetic signature.
Ian (20:36:49) :
OT On tamino’s blog open mind the following comment is made […]
I doubt this will pass moderation either. If your readers don’t already I suggest they have a look at open mind which is a total misnomer and is home to the smuggest, self-satisfied, “we know best” brigade I have ever encountered anywhere
You must not be familiar with Real Climate. Anthony has graciously included a link to that site in the right panel of this page.
“Evidence from ancient ice cores tell us that when greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, the climate warms,” said White. “And when the climate warms, ice sheets melt and sea levels rise. If we see comparable rises in sea level in the future like we have seen in the ice-core record, we can pretty much say good-bye to American coastal cities like Miami, Houston, Norfolk, New Orleans and Oakland.”
Wow. This….from a scientist.
False assumptions.
Predetermined outcomes.
Emo soundbytes, slandering the chambers of commerce of a host of American cities.
THIS anti-scientific, deductive approach is what our the taxpayer pays for???
Meanwhile infrastructure [where science could really help us] across the country, collapses.
Bridges fail. Water mains rust. Power grids fry.
Talk about “jacked up.”
Meanwhile….as a resident of one of the “doomed” cities….I regularly run in a nearby state park that has hills on the coastal plain.
Except they are not hills. They are forested dunes….from an ancient sea boundary from the Holocene Optimum.
Yeah sure….levels might return to that.
But we, nor our children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s etc. et al…..will probably not be around to see the change.
Civilizations do not last that long.
Stop the ****ing scaremongering, Professor White.
Your scientific expertise could be better used elsewhere, like solving the current problems facing civilization.
And Joel Shore….your sophistry is both tiring and amusing. Mostly amusing. Thanks for the laugh.
The longer the observable data in the world continues to verify that the AGW religion is wrong on most counts of their dogma, the more defensive, aggressive and sophist-like, will the arguments of you and others like you, become.
The burden of proof is on you.
Not on us.
You have heard the expression: **** happens.
Well…in a similar vein: Climate CHANGES.
That’s what it does.
Chris
Norfolk, VA
“Jeff Alberts (14:29:11) :
Aron (14:03:35) :
You can see ancient shorelines in the geologic record pretty clearly. When an ancient harbor settlement is now 200 feet from the shore, you know something has changed. And in other places those types of settlements are underwater. So it’s a crap shoot either way.”
I know it’s possible to see ancient shorelines, but I have not seen any evidence for 15 feet higher sea levels on a global scale anywhere!
I read the article by Prof. Zbigniew Jaworowski linked by Mike Abbott (13:39:07), and it is intriguing. It is certainly relevant to the topic of ice core CO2 research. A search on the last name does not reveal anything on WUWT. His work seems pretty important, unless there’s something wrong with it….Is there?
Ian (20:36:49) :
That is what they do, Ian.
They have EVERYTHING to hide….so they give the illusion of such with terms like “Openmind”.
In reality, his blog should be titled “ShutMind” or something similar.
It really has become a legalistic religion. Has anybody forgotten in our recent past mass delusions [say WWII Germany] or the Spanish Inquisition??
Damn….and I thought we humans we evolving.
We seem to just go in cycles like the rest of Nature.
Think positive feedback thoughts…..positive feedback thoughts…….positive thoughts. LOL
Here’s hoping for a better future.
All your ice cores and the many unknowns there [thanks for that bit of info, Mike Abbott] do not scare me, Professor White.
Rather, they and especially YOU [and Tamino]…galvanize me to change the way we do business.
Thanks for that!!
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA