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Space/Science » in reply to Alligators?

re: Alligators?
gbaikie — (archived)

"What are you talking about, GB? There are no alligators in the arctic. It's too cold. Maybe there were some there when plate tectonics moved that land mass toward the equator, but there certainly aren't any there now. Besides, no one is denying N Canada is very cold, the question is, is it getting warmer as the melting ice mentioned in your article suggests?"

I believe our current understanding of plate tectonic movement would not allow that much movement of Ellesmere Island in just 50 million years. But it could be a part of this, and of course I wouldn't say that the movement of land masses globally didn't have an major affect upon global climate, but if we were talking about say 100+ million years what you saying would be a more reasonable explanation.
Who said it? PBS's NOVA- The Big Chill:
"Between 52 and 57 million years ago, the Earth was relatively warm. ... Indeed it was so warm that trees grew in both the Arctic and Antarctic, and alligators lived in Ellesmere Island at 78 degrees North. "
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ice/chill.html

As for the question is it getting warmer. I would say the recent trends indicate warming in the Arctic region- I wouldn't say temperatures were remaining the same or lowering. My impression is that over the last 300-400 years the arctic region has generally been warming and during this period you have had cooling and warming trends. This takes back to Little Ice Age which was cooler than today and cooler than period of around 1000 AD. I think that in the period around 1000 AD the arctic region was probably warmer than today- and probably considerably warmer.

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