How solid is the recently reported University of Colorado at Boulder study?
From materials provided by CU at Boulder:
"Average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic during the last 100 years are higher now than during any century in the past 44,000 years and perhaps as long ago as 120,000 years, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study."
"The study is the first direct evidence the present warmth in the Eastern Canadian Arctic exceeds the peak warmth there in the Early Holocene, when the amount of the sun’s energy reaching the Northern Hemisphere in summer was roughly 9 percent greater than today, said CU-Boulder geological sciences Professor Gifford Miller"
The university team headed by Miller carbon dated dead mosses that had been exposed by melting ice and used ice core data from nearby Greenland to determine the ages of 145 plants found in the highlands of Baffin Island.
"[T]he indications are that Canadian Arctic temperatures today have not been matched or exceeded for roughly 120,000 years, Miller said."
“The key piece here is just how unprecedented the warming of Arctic Canada is,” said Miller, also a fellow at CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. “This study really says the warming we are seeing is outside any kind of known natural variability, and it has to be due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2013/10/23/cu-boulder-led-study-shows-unprecedented-warmth-arctic#sthash.8ygZuOei.dpuf"
Kano, did you read the very short article? I quote: "Since radiocarbon dating is only accurate to about 50,000 years and because Earth’s geological record shows it was in a glaciation stage prior to that time, the indications are that Canadian Arctic temperatures today have not been matched or exceeded for roughly 120,000 years, Miller said."
Elizabeth, actually, we get a climate scientist or two here, and there are other scientists who also participate here. Please note I am NOT talking about people who claim they are scientists, but answer questions here with a farrago of politics, innuendo, and outright lies. Sometimes I get a truly excellent answer, for example here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120606120552AABhgD8 I am also fascinated by the general level of understanding of science evidenced by those who argue here.