RECORD TEMPERATURE

[TERRIER]

Yes folks it's official, according to ITN news, Britain has today recorded it's highest ever temperature of 37.9'C (100.22'F if i'm not mistaken!)

The record was set at Heathrow Airport and beats the previous highest of 37.1'C (98.78'C) at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in 1990.

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

I know. It's utter madness.

If you want proof that the climate is changing, you got it right there.
I'm so glad I moved to Vancouver Island, I'd die in that heat!

[TERRIER]

The latest news is that Gravesend in Kent is claiming the record with a temperature of 38.1'C (100.58'F), so if any of you were doubting the previous record because someone left the thermometer next to a jet engine, can think again!

Evil Dr G.
What sort of summer temperatures do you get in Sidney, British Columbia?

[praesepe]

We are getting temperatures over 40 C? here... Hanging up is becoming a regular habit for my poor pc Weather forecasts report that we will continue having these temperatures for at least a week or more

[Guest]

Its all very well talking about the temperature in southern England. Its another thing to experience it. Its like walking into a blast furnace that is fueled entirely by old socks. My wife is complaining bitterly, as she is from the US and is somewhat upset we have no concept of air-conditioning in homes over here.

And the weather forecast inside my PC is 50 Celsius with the side off!

Celestia makes it 55 Celsius! (that's not a criticism)

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to code my solar system generator and do a few dozen maps.

Yours warmly,

Cormie

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Evil Dr G.
What sort of summer temperatures do you get in Sidney, British Columbia?

It's very mild over here, I love it! Winter doesn't get very cold (in fact, it usually doesn't even drop below freezing at any time of the year) and this summer I think the highest temperatures we've had so far have been in the high 20s, possibly 30 degrees.

A lot of old folk come out here to retire, for obvious reasons :0)

[Don. Edwards]

Well I moved to Oregon to get away from hot summers. So what did I get? Last year was warmer than normal according to everyone here in Oregon and this year is flat out madness as well. I feel like I moved back to California's central valley. We had about a good five days here this summer that hit the century mark versus 1 last year. I don't know about everyone else but my personal theory is that the weather patterns have all migrated north by about 500 miles. Our winter here in Oregon should have been very wet. But it was more like a normal Northern California winter. Again that’s about a shift of 500 miles.

One more thing we must keep in mind. Humans in our present form have only been keeping an eye on weather for the past 10,000 years or so. If you look at Earth's temperature history the planet is normally warmer than it is now. So maybe the Earth is simply going back to a more historic temperature level. We might not like how things are going but if this is a natural increase then we are just going to have to live with it. We do have the ability to adjust to the changes and I am not saying we didn't help this change progress at an accelerated rate. But now that its happening we are just going to have to monitor how things progress. We are all going to probably get used to hearing about global flooding and more even hotter summers. My main worry is how the following Southern Summer is going to affect the Antarctic ice. We surely do not need any of the massive glaciers down there to start and break up and melt. If that starts we are really going to be in trouble.

Don.

[Brendan]

Someone made a 1k texture of an ice free earth and said that the area of Antarctica and Greenland after it isotropically rebounds would more than make up for what ends up underwater. These might be good refuges from tropical diseases.
The temperatures here that I have experienced ranged from several degrees above 100F down to 20 below 0 F. I think that once, they forecast tempertures of 30 below 0 F. We're inland and hundreds of miles from both the ocean and the Great Lakes.
In the Adirondack mountains, I have heard that snow can persistent on ground into May.

Brendan

[Ynjevi]

Well, there's still a long way to go. About 50 million years ago even northernmost Canada, Ellesmere's Island, was tropical and crocodiles lived there . Its location was about the same as today.

[Cormoran]

Can anyone give me an idea by how much sea-level would be raised by melting the icecaps? I'm sure its not a simple question to answer, but I'd like to take a look at a reasonably accurate 'flooded Earth' scenario via Heightfield packages such as Wilbur.

Cheers,

Cormoran

[Ynjevi]

Can anyone give me an idea by how much sea-level would be raised by melting the icecaps? I'm sure its not a simple question to answer, but I'd like to take a look at a reasonably accurate 'flooded Earth' scenario via Heightfield packages such as Wilbur.

If I remember correctly, the value is around 70-100 meters if all Antarctic ice melts. Greenland's ice could cause only several cm rise and just warming seawater by several degrees could cause 1 meter rise. Melting northern icecap itself of course doesn't cause any rise, because it's just floating sea ice.

Eastern Antarctic ice shield is quite stabile and it probably formed about 15 million years ago. Western part is rather instabile and has probably melted several times. I don't remember how large part of Antarctica it is but eastern part is much larger anyway.

[Cormoran]

Thanks for that

Its a shame that there isn't any continental data on the landform of antarctica under the ice that I can find. I have heard that it's roughly two Island continents separated by a D-shaped isthmus.

If I'm gonna do this, I'd love to do it right

Cheers,

Cormoran

[Sum0]

Ah, you can always rely on traditional British weather. On Sunday, after suffering 35'C temperatures all day, it poured it down in the evening. You Americans don't know what you're missing...

[JackHiggins]

Its a shame that there isn't any continental data on the landform of antarctica under the ice that I can find. I have heard that it's roughly two Island continents separated by a D-shaped isthmus.

There is! I think... There was a map in the National Geographic in the Feb 02 issue showing the landmass under the ice... (It was like a 3d cross section) Not sure where you could get that online but it must be there somewhere..

[Ynjevi]

There is! I think... There was a map in the National Geographic in the Feb 02 issue showing the landmass under the ice... (It was like a 3d cross section) Not sure where you could get that online but it must be there somewhere..

Yes, I think that was the same issue from I got the information about West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), not shield as I wrote. It had very nice map of Antarctica made from satellite photos, too.

On the other hand, that landmass wouldn't be stabile -- it will start to rise when the huge mass of ice has gone. This phenomena is clearly visible here in Finland, where in some parts of western coast land rises over one meter in hundred years, drastically changing the landscape.

[Cormoran]

Its all good stuff guys

Even if the land rose to the point where the isthmus was eliminated, it still gives a good indication of relief.

We'll have to watch out for prehistoric nasties form Lake Vostok though

Cormoran

[JackHiggins]

The loch vostok monster?

[Cormoran]

Yeah...Maximum size, 1 Micron....While potentially dangerous, monsters small enough to inhale seem less scary

[TERRIER]

Would the fact that extra fresh melt-water entering the Atlantic 'gulf stream' from say Northern Canada and Greenland, cause a restriction in the flow of warm sea water from the Carribbean, thus resulting in a mini ice-age in Western Europe? So while most of the world gets hotter we in Britain will get colder!

I'm lead to believe that the gulf stream lends Western Europe a third as much heat to our climate as we get from the sun.

By the way, when's the next ice age due?

[Ynjevi]

Would the fact that extra fresh melt-water entering the Atlantic 'gulf stream' from say Northern Canada and Greenland, cause a restriction in the flow of warm sea water from the Carribbean, thus resulting in a mini ice-age in Western Europe? So while most of the world gets hotter we in Britain will get colder!

It could drop temperatures. Similar but more dramatic change happened twice during the end of last glacial period about 10,000 BC, when giant ice shield of Laurentia (Canada and northern US) melted into Hudson's Bay. Cold water then erupted into northern Atlantic causing huge global temperature drop of 10 C in only hundred years.

More probable danger would be if warm water restricts cold water near seabed coming from Arctic back to Carribean, thus shortening Gulf Stream. This probably caused the 'Little Ice Age' during 1500-1800 AD, when western and northern Europe were colder than usual causing hard winters and famines. Other theorized cause for Little Ice Age is Sun's unusually low sunspot activity period (Maunder's minimum).

By the way, when's the next ice age due?

In fact, we are in ice age right now, in a warmer period called interglacial. Its peak was about 6,000 years ago, and now climate is getting colder (if greenhouse effect caused by humans is not counted). Interglacials are usually couple of 10,000 years long, so next glaciation period should start probably around next 10,000 years. Glaciation periods last over 100,000 years. On the other hand, these periods are puctuated by short, warmer periods called interstadials when the ice momentarily retreats.