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Entry: A Matter of Degrees Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_matter_of_degrees#16427 Post contents: Global warming ehtusiasts use the evidence that fits their argument, and ignore the rest. Most importantly, they base their record of past global temperatures on ice cores and tree rings, but they ignore the evidence provided by changes in arctic tree-line, even though that record has been well-established and provides arguably more accurate data on northern hemisphere temperatures than either tree-rings of ice cores. The reason for silencing the tree-line record is obvious: it shows large changes in the recent past, when there was no change in carbon dioxide. Tree lines were significantly north of today during the medieval warm period (about 800-1100 AD), which cannot be explained by fluctuations in carbon dioxide. More impressive yet is the hypsithermal, i.e., the warmest period after the last ice age. The tree-line was over 200 miles north of its current position. This lasted about a thousand years, yet the glaciers did not melt and the sea did not rise. Of course, beginning to discuss this fact would bring about an absolutely catastrophic diaster of a different kind: a drastic reduction in the greenhouse lobby's funding and political influence. Keep watching the "Green Alps" data currently coming out in Germany. This started from the discovery that many alpine glaciers are bringing down old, frozen tree-trunks, i.e., trees must have grown in areas currently covered by glaciers. Last I checked, carbon dating of the trunks suggested that about half of the time since the last ice age tree-line in the Alps has been higher than today. Sent at: 2009 01 08