Re: Sailing round Greenland?


"Erik Hammerstad" <egeha.is.all.you.need@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4uqvttF1950cvU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Daryl Krupa wrote:
D. Patterson wrote:
<snip>
In any case, the ice depicted in the BBC chart fails to reveal the
existence
of large areas of open water, polynyas, which occur even in the recent
past
in areas as large as 2,000 square miles of the Arctic pack ice. Given
the
past melts and future melts,
the northern coastline of greenland must have
occassionally experienced extensive areas of open water
larger and more frequent than we have seen
in our own recent past century of recordkeeping.
<snip>

Not so.
Polynyas are the result of rare combinations of currents, winds,
and restrictions of current flow.
The confined conditions of Baffin Bay, combining the currents
filtering through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from the
Beaufort Sea, from the polar Arctic Ocean through Nares Strait,
and deep water from the North Atlantic Ocean, and the counter-
clockwise rotation created by the interaction of the northward
current on the east side with the southward current on the west
side (similar to at atmospheric low-pressure cell),
do not exist on the north coast of Greenland.
There is no physical reason to expect that
"the northern coastline of greenland must have
occassionally experienced extensive areas of open water
larger and more frequent than we have seen
in our own recent past century of recordkeeping."

Agreed, except for a possibility during the Holocene climate optimum some
4-5 kya. But at that time there were no Norse trying to sail around
Greenland :-)

Let me add that the UCAR simulations seem to show a continuous ice
blockage at the north end of the Kane Basin for the next 40 years, while
from about 2020 the ice coverage north of Greenland is less than 100% and
also among the Canadian Arctic islands. Detailed images:
http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2006/arctic.shtml

So, you choose to promote the idea that contemporary statistical computer
simulations known to be less than 100 percent accurate are somehow supposed
to constitute a superior substitute for the reality of artifacts and
contemporaneous historical records?

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17407



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Sailing round Greenland?
    ... of large areas of open water, polynyas, which occur even in the recent ... larger and more frequent than we have seen ... Polynyas are the result of rare combinations of currents, winds, ... do not exist on the north coast of Greenland. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Sailing round Greenland?
    ... of large areas of open water, polynyas, which occur even in the recent ... Polynyas are the result of rare combinations of currents, winds, ... do not exist on the north coast of Greenland. ... "the northern coastline of greenland must have ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Sailing round Greenland?
    ... of large areas of open water, polynyas, which occur even in the ... Polynyas are the result of rare combinations of currents, winds, ... do not exist on the north coast of Greenland. ... "the northern coastline of greenland must have ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Sailing round Greenland?
    ... of large areas of open water, polynyas, which occur even in the recent past ... Polynyas are the result of rare combinations of currents, winds, ... do not exist on the north coast of Greenland. ... please show where the historical records are which describe the polynyas a millenium ago. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Sailing round Greenland?
    ... occassionally experienced extensive areas of open water ... do not exist on the north coast of Greenland. ... "the northern coastline of greenland must have ... others from existing maps drawn from older maps. ...
    (sci.archaeology)