[pct-l] Climate Change Indicators

[christinpruett@hotmail.com (christin pruett)]

This is the first time I've posted to this list, just been hanging out 
gaining PCT knowledge.  But, I thought I'd post my two cents about global 
warming/ice ages etc...  The last glacial maximum (the big one with the huge 
ice sheets that covered most of Canada, cut Alaska in half, and extended 
down into the continental US) ended about 10-12K years ago.  This was the 
last major glaciation on the Earth.  At the end of it, many large mammal 
species went extinct - Woolly Mammoth, Sabertooth Tiger, American Lion, 
Mastodons, Giant Sloths, Steppe bison, etc...

This extinction factor is the major concern, other than losing their 
beachfront condos, for scientist worried about rapid global climate change.  
Change is happening more rapidly than species, that already have small 
population sizes, can adapt.  A perfect example is the Polar Bear, they have 
undergone a significant loss in population size over the last 100 years.  
The primary cause:  bears depend on pack ice for hunting seals.  Less pack 
ice = less bears.  This scenario is possible for many other species, not 
just for charismatic megafauna.

Plus temperatures will be more extreme at higher latitudes, with places such 
as Alaska (where I live) exhibiting the greatest increases.  Although, it 
will only be a few degrees warmer in Texas, in Alaska, Siberia, Canada, and 
Antarctica the temperature could increase by as much as 20F.  This could be 
catastrophic for everyone.  Way more water in the oceans (due to melting of 
polar ice caps), more instability in weather patterns, and mass extinctions. 
  Basically the same things that happened 12,000 years ago.
Christy


>From: "WoodsPublishing" <woodsps@charter.net>
>To: "Post to PCT List" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
>Subject: [pct-l] Climate Change Indicators
>Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 14:06:18 -0700
>
> > In a message dated 6/6/02 2:40:56 AM, Hiker97@aol.com writes:
> >
> > << I hear that the ice fields that Sir Edmond Hilary crossed out
> > of his Mt. Everest base camp in 1953 are now a two hour walk from
> > his original base camp.  Seems the ice has retreated that far
> > since 1953.  I guess global warming is really real.  I wonder what
> > the snow levels and other indicators would be like in the Sierras
> > today compared to the early 1950s or John Muir's days in the Range
> > of Light.  Happy trails, Switchback
>
>Here's one from ancient history. Feel free to correct the facts, I'm 
>depending totally on memory here, but here's the gist of it (didn't keep 
>the clipping)
>
>About three years ago, divers poking around Fallen Leaf Lake found a 
>complete 100-foot sugar pine rooted in the bottom of the lake. The tree 
>itself was several centuries old, and its root line was about 200 feet 
>down. If I'm not mistaken there was also evidence of an old shoreline just 
>below it. Carbon dating indicated it was inundated abruptly about 1,500 
>years ago. No indications of a landslide sealing the lake outlet, reason 
>unknown why the lake level jumped 200 feet other than a change of climate. 
>Apparently there was a period of prolonged drought (long enough for the 
>tree to grow there) prior to the change. Anybody know if that coincides 
>with the end of the last Ice Age, melting of continental glaciers etc.?
>
>Rick
>
>
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