Norway's Arctic islands at their hottest since Viking era: scientists

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Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard recently experienced its highest temperatures since the end of the Viking Age around 800 years ago, the Norwegian Polar Institute said Tuesday.

Analysis of ice taken from Lomonosovfonna, one of the highest glaciers on Svalbard, confirms that recent local temperatures have been at their highest since the 13th century, the institute said in a statement.

"And the warming is accelerating," Elisabeth Isaksson, one of the glaciologists at the institute, told AFP.

The institute in 1997 removed ice cores from the glacier containing climate information dating back 800 years and it has only recently finished analysing the wealth of data.

Thermometer measurements taken since 1911 meanwhile show that 2006 was the warmest year on record in the archipelago.

During the Viking Age, which was much warmer than the following centuries, people from Europe's Nordic region had access to ice-free seas all the way to Greenland and North America, Isaksson said.

The ice core samples did not go deep enough however to determine the exact temperatures at the time, she said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYQ384..._CTJ7cuEXYnNqIA

[GaryC 7]

Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard recently experienced its highest temperatures since the end of the Viking Age around 800 years ago, the Norwegian Polar Institute said Tuesday.

Analysis of ice taken from Lomonosovfonna, one of the highest glaciers on Svalbard, confirms that recent local temperatures have been at their highest since the 13th century, the institute said in a statement.

"And the warming is accelerating," Elisabeth Isaksson, one of the glaciologists at the institute, told AFP.

The institute in 1997 removed ice cores from the glacier containing climate information dating back 800 years and it has only recently finished analysing the wealth of data.

Thermometer measurements taken since 1911 meanwhile show that 2006 was the warmest year on record in the archipelago.

During the Viking Age, which was much warmer than the following centuries, people from Europe's Nordic region had access to ice-free seas all the way to Greenland and North America, Isaksson said.

The ice core samples did not go deep enough however to determine the exact temperatures at the time, she said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYQ384..._CTJ7cuEXYnNqIA

So 800 years ago things were as warm as they are now. Does that mean that medieval mankind caused that global warming also?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

We'd better keep a better eye on the Vikings this time.

[kerewin21 2]

We'd better keep a better eye on the Vikings this time.

I bet the Vikings love GW too.

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Viking gas guzzler...

[SqdnGuns 21]

Well, the Vikings are on a hot streak now, won 4 straight games.

[jundp 191]

This place is cracking me up tonight. I was bummed when I signed on (and also procrastinating that stack of papers to grade, if the truth be told) and now I feel much better.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard recently experienced its highest temperatures since the end of the Viking Age around 800 years ago, the Norwegian Polar Institute said Tuesday.

Analysis of ice taken from Lomonosovfonna, one of the highest glaciers on Svalbard, confirms that recent local temperatures have been at their highest since the 13th century, the institute said in a statement.

"And the warming is accelerating," Elisabeth Isaksson, one of the glaciologists at the institute, told AFP.

The institute in 1997 removed ice cores from the glacier containing climate information dating back 800 years and it has only recently finished analysing the wealth of data.

Thermometer measurements taken since 1911 meanwhile show that 2006 was the warmest year on record in the archipelago.

During the Viking Age, which was much warmer than the following centuries, people from Europe's Nordic region had access to ice-free seas all the way to Greenland and North America, Isaksson said.

The ice core samples did not go deep enough however to determine the exact temperatures at the time, she said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYQ384..._CTJ7cuEXYnNqIA

LTH

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What is LTH?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What is LTH?

Lunatic Tree Huggers, I suppose.

Edited December 12, 2007 by Mr. Big Dog

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Ohhhhh