Fossil forest may sprout again as Canadian Arctic warms

[Entropy]

I thought this was an interesting story.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49125117/#.UF20Ho1lQVI

[TerryM]

The conference ends tomorrow so no way I can attend. That will be an amazing presentation.

Terry

[Jonger]

Might end up being a carbon negative feedback.... Watch a video of 2008 global co2 levels in map form.

[Jonger]

The trees in the ancient forest, as interpreted from the pollen samples, usually grew in areas with a yearly average temperature of about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), Guertin-Pasquier said. Currently, average temperatures on Bylot Island hover around 5 degrees F (minus-15 degrees C), he added.

Nevermind.

[Entropy]

The trees in the ancient forest, as interpreted from the pollen samples, usually grew in areas with a yearly average temperature of about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), Guertin-Pasquier said. Currently, average temperatures on Bylot Island hover around 5 degrees F (minus-15 degrees C), he added.

Nevermind.

That might sound impossibly high, but not when you consider the mid-Pliocene (Piacenzian) warm period was only 2-3C warmer than the present. It just illustrates the principle of Arctic amplification, aided by a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean. Of course, the taiga itself probably contributed to some of the warming due to its effects on albedo. The earth's climate was generally cooling during that time period, heading towards the first large-scale Northern Hemispheric glaciation of the Pleistocene.