Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

Re:Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide int... by simonh on Wednesday August 23, 2017 @05:35PM (#15085406)

All things being equal yes, but they're not equal.

The Holocene Climate Optimum is the nearest thing in the last few hundred thousand years and it wasn't anywhere near this warm globally. What it did do though is melt the Laurentide ice sheet, dramatically raising global sea levels. But the ice sheet protected the North American continental tundra. Nowadays there's no ice sheet there any more to absorb the heat and stop the tundra melting and releasing its CO2 and methane.

Look up the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum though. That's the nearest equivalent episode to what's happening now.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide int... by basurihn on Wednesday August 23, 2017 @09:07PM (#15086800)

Or the MWP, which ended about 700 years ago. Which also coincides with an Indian Warming Period.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide int... by danielvf on Wednesday August 23, 2017 @06:09PM (#15085646)

Link for the lazy:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene–Eocene_Thermal_Max...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide int... by erikpukinskis on Thursday August 24, 2017 @03:55AM (#15088377)

This train is a nonstop to the Cretaceous. Better start preparing.

[ Parent | on HN ]