1950 Shock News : Global warming – Glaciers Disappearing – Fish Migrating North – Spitzbergen Ice Free

3 Responses to 1950 Shock News : Global warming – Glaciers Disappearing – Fish Migrating North – Spitzbergen Ice Free

1. Eric Barnes says:

   August 7, 2011 at 2:45 pm

   I’m so thankful for the thoroughness of the US press. That piece would never be published in the US.

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2. PJB says:

   August 7, 2011 at 2:47 pm

   Maybe this had to do with all those UFO (Unfounded Freezing Objections) that were circulating at the time… 😉

   Reply
3. Blade says:

   August 8, 2011 at 6:36 am

   I thought it would be worthwhile to copy the plaintext here …

   STRANGE EVENTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE

   WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1950.

   GLACIER melting and disappearance in the Arctic regions has created a suspicion that the earth is becoming warmer, so an expedition to the Norwegian section of the Antarctic to learn whether a similar phenomenon is in progress there has been financed by Britain, Norway and Sweden. German Aviators reported as long ago as 1938 that certain mountain peaks in Queen Maud Land, previously ice covered, were bare at the top.

   Along the Rift Valley, in Africa, and in Central America, a retreat of glaciers has been noticed, and the signs of a changing climate are reinforced by the migration of fish in the North Atlantic to unusually high latitudes. Cod, for example, goes nine degrees farther north than in the past and the herring travels as far as Greenland.

   Spitzbergen, which was open to navigation only three months a year not long ago, is open for seven months now. To cap it all, land which the Vikings cultivated in Greenland and Iceland (which has been under ice for 1000 years) is bare again now.

   Retreat of glaciers is not at a steady pace, for in a period of’waning they may make two or three slight advances in exceptional seasons; but an average rate of disappearance can be calculated. Scientists desire to know the reason for the change and to prepare for the effect of it.

   One hypothesis is that the earth is becoming warmer – a phrase which has more than one meaning, lt could imply an increase of internal heat, due to the growing pressure of the contracting surface, or it could be caused by chemical action.

   There is one school of thought which suggests that the earth is getting a little closer to the sun or else that the heat of the sun is increasing. Movement toward the sun would be checked in time by the greater speed of revolution, which would take the earth outward again, so there is no danger of absorption. Less precipitation of moisture may explain everything.

   Other thinkers on the subject point to the great amount of volcanic activity in recent years,and suggest that the air percentage of carbon dioxide is increasing as a result. Change of direction of ocean currents is another suggestion which might meet sonic of the noticed phenomena.

   It is anybody’s guess so far, and now an effort is to be made to trace what is happening on the earth. When the scientists find out, there will be the problem of what to do about it. The answer may be that they can do nothing except “wait and see.”

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