"Northwest Alaska warmer and drier during the Medieval Warm Period"

[Diamond]

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/scitips/01/09climate.html

The researchers concluded that warm climatic conditions occurred in A.D. 0-300 and 850-1200. During these periods, overall conditions were drier than the colder periods, they found. The initial warm period matches documented conditions in Northern Europe and wet weather in the American Southwest. The second warm period corresponds to a period known as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly.


Northwest Alaska is nowhere near the North Atlantic.

In a follow-up study, Hu and postdoctoral associate Willy Tinner have found, based on preliminary data, a counter-intuitive discovery. They found that forest fires were more abundant during the colder conditions of the Little Ice Age (1400 to 1700). Such a finding is contradictory to many global warming predictions.

Oh dear. The Little Ice Age was a global phenomenon.

For those fascinated by publishing in peer-reviewed journals you'll find the entire report in Science (v.30, 26 Sept 03, p.1890)

..oh and one final bit...

The co-authors of the PNAS study are Hu, Emi Ito (University of Minnesota), Thomas Brown (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Brandon Curry (Illinois State Geological Survey) and Daniel Engstrom (Minnesota Science Museum). The National Science Foundation funded the research.

Holy crap. No oil companies. And still they don't support the idea that the warming of the 20th Century was anything unusual.

[garys_2k]

OK smarty, so how did they run the Iditarod back then?

[fishbob]

From the article:"Naturally, the big question is whether human activity is causing the current warming," said principal investigator Feng Sheng Hu, a professor of plant biology and geology at the University of Illinois. "This study, however, doesn't provide us with the analytical confidence to answer that directly. We can say that two apparently naturally occurring warm periods existed previously. Interesting study, findings inconclusive, nothing new.

Hu and postdoctoral associate Willy Tinner have found, based on preliminary data, a counter-intuitive discovery. They found that forest fires were more abundant during the colder conditions of the Little Ice Age (1400 to 1700). Such a finding is contradictory to many global warming predictions. This is interesting. I would have expected that the cold periods would be drier (cold air holds less moisture than warm air), and therefore I would have also thought that there would be more forest fires during the colder periods.

Also the bold statement was made by the journalist, not by the researchers.

The findings come from a comprehensive geochemical analysis of sediment samples taken from Farewell Lake in a remote, environmentally sensitive area of Alaska. Heck, most of Alaska is remote and environmentally sensitive.

[Diamond]

Originally posted by fishbob
From the article: Interesting study, findings inconclusive, nothing new.

Of course it's inconclusive. It's climate science with its uncertainties and wide error bars. Its simply strongly suggestive.

There are studies from right around the globe like this one that are also strongly suggestive of climatic events formerly (or for some intrasigents, still) attributed to the North Atlantic basin only.

This is interesting. I would have expected that the cold periods would be drier (cold air holds less moisture than warm air), and therefore I would have also thought that there would be more forest fires during the colder periods.

Also the bold statement was made by the journalist, not by the researchers.

I think the most important part is that both Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are seen as climatic events far away from the North Atlantic.

Some places were wetter during the LIA (for example in Africa) but some others were very much drier (like Lake Malawi, also in Africa). Certainly the spread of deserts during that time is very well attested to in climate studies.

Heck, most of Alaska is remote and environmentally sensitive.

It is, which is why it is so intensively studied since even small changes in climate have large effects in polar regions.