Megalodon
Illuminator
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2001
- Messages
- 3,228
A case could be made in the mid-'80's that Greenland around 1000CE was as warm, but thirty years of warming have put paid to that. In recent years it has rained on Greenland in winter: this is not normal, and was never remarked on in the past.
There were two Norse settlements, both in the south-west on the Labrador Sea, warmed by an arm of the Gulf Stream. Which is to say, they inhabited the warmest part of Greenland only. The main draw of the place was walrus ivory, which as we all know became a sought-after product when the Moors cut off the African ivory trade in the 8thCE. When the Portuguese re-opened the trade in the 15thCE Greenland was abandoned. At the same time Basque fishermen were plying the Labrador Sea, on the quiet, to enormous profit.
Not everything's down to climate change. Everything is down to economics, though.
I can guarantee that, if you go back enough, the land mass now known as Greenland was warmer than now.
What I need Haig to clarify is if he thinks that Greenland is a good proxy for global temperatures.
Because otherwise his obsession with Greenland temperature reconstructions would reek of cherry picking, and we know that Haig wouldn't do such a thing.


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