Tag Archives: cosmogenic isotopes

The intriguing paradox of global warming piggybacking on global cooling

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17th century depiction of a frozen riverFlood, fire, drought … We have, by luck and muddled management, thwarted pestilence, but it seems that changing weather patterns everywhere are leading us on a merry dance.  Our climate is giving us a bumpy ride; anyone living in the Caribbean and southeast US, or Bangladesh, will attest to this, given the havoc that hurricanes and tropical cyclones have wrought over the past few months (northern hemisphere summer, 2017).  The skinny, outer layers of our world (air and oceans) seem to be getting warmer. No doubt there are consequences?

It may seem paradoxical, but global warming is taking place against a backdrop of global cooling. Forcing of global climates is governed by internal (within our own skinny sphere) and external agents; the latter by solar output and earth’s changing orbit. There is now, good Continue reading

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The Bubbles That Changed our Perspective on the World’s Climate

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Camp water supply from a small pond on this iceberg

One of my geology field seasons in the Canadian Arctic worked out of a base-camp on Axel Heiberg Island (west of and snuggled against Ellesmere Island).  It was the spring thaw and all rivers and streams were muddy.  Our only source of clean water turned out to be a small melt-water pond atop an iceberg in Strand Fiord, a few hundred metres offshore.  The helicopter would make daily trips with a 45-gallon drum to collect the water.  The ice and its water were crystal clear and probably a few thousand years old. It was a treat. Perhaps the only thing missing was the occasional Scotch or G&T. Continue reading

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