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An abnormal season of intense glacial melt in 2002 triggered multiple distinct changes in the physical and biological characteristics of Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys over the ensuing decade.
The findings suggest that even abrupt, short-lived climate events can cause long-term alterations in polar regions that unfold over the span of several years and subsequently change the overall trajectory of an ecosystem.
The new research appears in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) are the largest ice-free region of Antarctica and are considered a polar desert environment due to their low humidity and scarce precipitation. Now in its 25th year, the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) has provided a continuous multi-decade record of atmospheric and ecological data at the MDV research site.
Between 1987 and 2000, the MDV region experienced a period of cooling, during which mean summer temperatures steadily declined while solar radiation gradually increased. The trend resulted in expected changes to most biological variables, including decreased streamflow and increased thickness of permanent ice covers on lakes.
In 2002, however, the MDV experienced an abnormally warm and sunny summer season, triggering the greatest amount of glacial meltwater since 1969. The abrupt event prompted numerous changes in the lakes, streams and soils of the MDV over the following decade.
Journal Reference:
Michael N. Gooseff, et. al., Decadal ecosystem response to an anomalous melt season in a polar desert in Antarctica. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2017; DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0253-0
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday August 09 2017, @10:44PM (7 children)
So, ozone hole was preventing global warming.
Now its on the mend. Warming Expected. [nationalgeographic.com] ???
So not unheard of, just rare-ish.
A legacy of the Solar Maximum [wikipedia.org] perhaps?
Oh, wait, we aren't allowed to blame any warming on solar activity change. My bad.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday August 09 2017, @11:19PM (4 children)
Oh, wait, we aren't allowed to blame any warming on solar activity change. My bad.
Well, when you're on the down-slope for solar activity (since 2014) [nasa.gov] but you're breaking global temperature records every year (2015 & 2016) it tends to rule it out.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Thursday August 10 2017, @04:24AM (1 child)
So only manmade warming supporters are allowed to talk about longterm trends?
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 10 2017, @03:59PM
So only manmade warming supporters are allowed to talk about longterm trends?
The solar cycle is only 11 years! So, no, if you're talking about solar maxima/minima then you're basically limited to stretches of 11 years.
I'll also not that the 2013/14 maxima was the lowest in 100 years! [space.com]
If you don't even have correlation going for you then it's a pretty weak argument.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @12:23PM
That probably isn't a good strategy rhetorically. You are calling a two year "pause" real after people have spent 15+ years calling another "pause" too short.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 11 2017, @01:56AM
Warming goes up when activity goes down. And the activity is going down like a whore who just hocked her Rolex.
(Score: 2, Informative) by ants_in_pants on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:53PM (1 child)
Parts of antarctica frequently cool when the rest of the world is heating up. It's actually pretty interesting.
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/ [nasa.gov] is a really handy resource.
-Love, ants_in_pants
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 11 2017, @02:01AM
They're so amazingly far south that when it's summer for us, they have winter. And when we have winter, it's summer for them. A kind of cold summer. Amazing!