New Study: Greenland ‘Must Have Been At Least 3°C Warmer’ Than Today During The Early Holocene

These much warmer Greenland temperatures imply that the elevation of the ice sheet was 400 meters lower than it is today from about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Scientists (Westhoff et al., 2022) report that the two largest Greenland melt events in the last few hundred years occurred in 2012 and in 1889 CE – when atmospheric CO2 levels were still under 300 ppm.

The “melt events around the Holocene Climate Optimum were more intense and more frequent” than has been observed during the modern period. And the most prominent melt events of the last 10,000 years centered around the Medieval Warm Period, 986 CE.

Overall, the elevation of the Greenland ice sheet has grown by 0.4 km since the Early Holocene, as “summer temperatures must have been at least 3 ± 0.6°C warmer during the Early Holocene compared to today.”

Image Source: Westhoff et al., 2022

14 responses to “New Study: Greenland ‘Must Have Been At Least 3°C Warmer’ Than Today During The Early Holocene”

  1. New Study: Greenland ‘Must Have Been At Least 3°C Warmer’ Than Today During the Early Holocene - Climate- Science.press

    […] New Study: Greenland ‘Must Have Been At Least 3°C Warmer’ Than Today During The Early H… […]

  2. Richard Greene

    The Holocene Climate Optimum is a good period to study because it is the only period in the past 20,000 years with strong evidence that the world was warner than in the past decade. But the CO2 level was lower, so plants are happier with 400ppm+ today. In my opinion, the current climate is the best climate for humans, animals, and especially plants, since that Optimum ended about 5000 years ago.
    We should be celebrating the current climate.
    There must be a good reason Greenland was called Greenland rather than
    North Iceland or Coldland

  3. oebele bruinsma

    “Overall, the elevation of the Greenland ice sheet has grown by 0.4 km since the Early Holocene” A reasonable conclusion can be that we are heading for the next ice age…….

  4. Climate Reckoning – Newsfeed Hasslefree Allsort

    […] New Study: Greenland ‘Must Have Been At Least 3°C Warmer’ Than Today During The Early Holocene […]

  5. posa

    “And the most prominent melt events of the last 10,000 years centered around the Medieval Warm Period, 986 CE.”

    And likewise, the Little Ice Age was much colder than today.

    Both occurred when CO2 levels were 45% lower than today…And need I recall that the Medieval Warming Period was GLOBAL and not an isolated, regional event.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period#North_America

    CONCLUSION:
    CO2 is not a climate driver. Except fr the very early stages of Earth history, CO2 levels have negligible, if any influence on global temperatures.

    1. Teemu Laulajainen

      Behind your wikipedia link: “Climate proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions, which indicate that the MWP was not a globally uniform event.[3]”

  6. Richard Greene

    Wrong conclusions
    Manmade CO2 is a greenhouse gas and a climate driver
    CO2 levels have unknown effects on the climate
    More CO2 should impede Earth’s ability to cool itself by an unknown amount
    That unknown amount has not harmed anyone in the past.

    1. John Brown

      Manmade CO2 is a gas and not physically shown to be a climate driver

      There, fixed that for ya!

  7. T Laulajainen

    I think “notrickszone” has misinterpreted the results of the study:

    “elevation of the ice sheet was 400 meters lower than it is today from about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.” is NOT true.

    Ice sheet was (6000-9000 yrs ago) 400m HIGHER than today. Research says:
    “Today, the highly dynamic EastGRIP site is 170 km further north-northeast and 400 m lower than 9000 years ago.”

    After all, the study was about melting of ice, not gaining of ice. Greenland summer temperatures were warmer than today, but overall and global mean temperature was not. “…while the annual mean temperature remained lower
    and gradually climbed to today’s value, more or less following atmospheric CO2 concentrations”

    You may want to correct that, thank you.

    1. T. Laulajainen

      And commenting my own comment: I was wrong. The issue was not about present surface elevation, but drill hole location.

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